Ṭarafah: Tribal Gatherings, Song, Extravagance, and Isolation (Verses 47–54)

1. From tribal standing through conviviality to isolation

The preceding verses asserted Ṭarafah’s courage, assistance to others, and presence in tribal gatherings. The poem now turns to his esteemed position, drinking companions, a female singer, and habitual spending. This display of sociability is then sharply followed by tribal estrangement and personal solitude.

Verses 47–51 build a social and acoustic scene; verses 52–53 disclose the consequences of his chosen practices; verse 54 asserts that people of differing social ranks still acknowledge him. Tracking the sequence of scene, conduct, and consequence prevents the descriptions from becoming unrelated anecdotes.

2. Verse 47: claiming a high position in the tribe

وَإِنْ يَلْتَقِ الْحَيُّ الْجَمِيعُ تُلَاقِنِي
إِلَى ذُرْوَةِ الْبَيْتِ الرَّفِيعِ الْمُصَمَّدِ
Meaning: If the entire tribe comes together, you will find me at the summit of a lofty, honored house toward which others turn.

Yaltaqi al-ḥayyu al-jamīʿ imagines the tribe assembled as a whole. Dhurwat al-bayt literally evokes a house’s summit but refers here to eminence in lineage and public standing. Al-muṣammad describes something sought out or turned toward. The image elevates his claimed social rank without requiring a literal rooftop scene.

3. Dhurwah, bayt, and muṣammad: a metaphor of honor

Dhurwah is a summit or elevated point. Bayt literally means a house, yet in genealogical or social contexts may refer to a family and its standing. Rafīʿ denotes height, while muṣammad is something toward which people direct themselves.

A strictly architectural reading would miss the poem’s self-praise. The house becomes a tangible image through which social eminence is expressed, and the assembled tribe provides the public setting in which such a claim is meaningful.

4. Grammar of verse 47: condition and response

In introduces a jussive condition, with yaltaqi its conditional verb. Al-ḥayyu is the subject and al-jamīʿu emphasizes the community’s entirety. Tulāqinī is the result clause, with the attached first-person pronoun functioning as its object.

Ilā dhurwah marks direction toward the summit. The social sense involves an understood relation to the summit of rank, rather than a literal bodily location. The conditional construction dramatizes what an observer would allegedly find at a complete tribal gathering.

5. Verse 48: companions, stars, and a singer

نَدَامَايَ بِيضٌ كَالنُّجُومِ وَقَيْنَةٌ
تَرُوحُ عَلَيْنَا بَيْنَ بُرْدٍ وَمُجَسَّدِ
Meaning: My drinking companions are bright and conspicuous like stars, while a singing woman comes among us wearing either a cloak or a dyed, ornamented garment.

Nadāmāya denotes the poet’s drinking companions; bīḍ ka-l-nujūm compares their brilliance or prominence to the stars. Qaynah is a female singer or enslaved performer in the historical setting. Burd and mujassad are garment descriptions. The verse builds an atmosphere of prestige and display.

6. Verse 49: a wide neckline and delicate softness

رَحِيبٌ قِطَابُ الْجَيْبِ مِنْهَا رَقِيقَةٌ
بِحِسِّ النَّدَامَى بَضَّةُ الْمُتَجَرَّدِ
Meaning: The singer is described with an ample neckline, a delicate disposition, a responsiveness to the companions’ touch, and supple, soft exposed skin.

Raḥīb qiṭāb al-jayb concerns the wide opening of the collar or neckline. Raqīqah denotes delicacy, baḍḍah softness and freshness, and al-mutajarrad skin uncovered by clothing. These physical descriptions belong to the poem’s particular narrative gaze, rather than an objective account of the woman.

7. Jayb, qiṭāb, and mutajarrad: lexical distinctions

Al-jayb is the neck opening through which the head enters a garment. Qiṭāb al-jayb concerns the collar’s edge or opening, here described as broad. Al-mutajarrad derives from tajarrud, describing the part of the body uncovered when clothing is removed.

Bi-ḥiss al-nadāmā refers to touch or sensory response among the companions. Each term contributes its own aspect—collar, delicacy, touch, or skin—so a single general word such as “beauty” would erase the verse’s lexical distinctions.

8. Verse 50: a request to sing and an unforced melody

إِذَا نَحْنُ قُلْنَا أَسْمِعِينَا انْبَرَتْ لَنَا
عَلَى رِسْلِهَا مَطْرُوقَةً لَمْ تُشَدَّدِ
Meaning: Whenever we ask her to sing or let us hear something, she responds calmly, performing in an easy, unforced manner rather than straining the voice.

Asmiʿīnā is an imperative addressed to the singer; inbarat lanā describes her response. ʿAlā rislihā expresses ease and measured pace, while maṭrūqatan lam tushaddad portrays softness and lack of strained force. The verse emphasizes how the performance sounds and unfolds, not merely its existence.

9. Asmiʿīnā and inbarat: forms and syntax

Asmiʿī is a feminine singular imperative from form IV, with -nā its first-person plural object: “let us hear.” Inbarat is third-person feminine singular past, referring to the singer. Idhā naḥnu qulnā introduces the recurring occasion of a request and its response.

Lam tushaddad uses the negative particle lam with a jussive imperfect, conveying that the performance was not forced or made harsh. The grammar links the request, reaction, and quality of the voice into one continuous scene.

10. Verse 51: singing compared with the cries of she-camels

إِذَا رَجَّعَتْ فِي صَوْتِهَا خِلْتَ صَوْتَهَا
تَجَاوُبَ أَظْآرٍ عَلَى رُبْعٍ رَدِي
Meaning: When she varies and repeats her song, you may think her voice resembles the answering cries of nursing she-camels over a dead young calf.

Rajjaʿat fī ṣawtihā describes vocal modulation and repetition. Aẓʾār refers to nursing or foster-mother she-camels; rubʿ radī evokes a young camel that has died. The simile concerns the responsive, plaintive quality of the voices, not a claim that a singing woman literally becomes an animal.

11. Rubʿ, radī, and aẓʾār: decoding the sound simile

Here rubʿ denotes a young camel born early in the season; it is not the unrelated sense of a quarter, nor the ruined campsite called rabʿ. Radī means perished or dead, and aẓʾār is a plural related to nursing she-camels.

Tajāwub depicts answering calls. The comparison combines acoustic resemblance with a note of grief: it is not simply an assertion that the singer’s voice is pleasant, but an image of repeated, plaintive response.

12. Khiltā and tajāwub: the grammar of perceived likeness

Khiltā is second-person masculine singular past, “you imagined,” not a first-person verb. Its root is kh-y-l and it conveys supposition. Ṣawtahā is the sound being imagined; tajāwub aẓʾār is the comparable pattern of answering calls.

Idhā rajjaʿat specifies the moment when the singer modulates her voice. The simile is therefore filtered through the listener’s perception, not presented as an objective statement that one sound literally is another.

13. Verse 52: prolonged enjoyment and expenditure

وَمَا زَالَ تِشْرَابِي الْخُمُورَ وَلَذَّتِي
وَبَيْعِي وَإِنْفَاقِي طَرِيفِي وَمُتْلَدِي
Meaning: My drinking, pleasures, selling, and spending both recently acquired and inherited wealth continued without pause.

Wa-mā zāla signals persistence. Tishrābī al-khumūr expresses habitual or repeated wine drinking, while bayʿī wa-infāqī concerns disposing of money and spending it. Ṭarīfī is new wealth and mutladī older or inherited property. The inclusion of both new and inherited wealth makes the scale of his spending explicit and prepares for the ensuing tribal estrangement.

14. Ṭarīf and mutlad: two categories of property

Ṭarīf is wealth newly acquired by trade, earnings, or other means. Mutlad is longstanding property, especially what comes through inheritance. Their pairing gives a sense of comprehensive expenditure: both kinds of assets are included.

ExpressionSense
ṬarīfīMy recently acquired wealth
MutladīMy old or inherited wealth

Together, infāqī ṭarīfī wa-mutladī signals spending across the whole range of possessions, not merely making an occasional purchase.

15. Wa-mā zāla ... ilā an: duration and its endpoint

Verse 52 begins with wa-mā zāla, describing ongoing habitual conduct. The next verse opens ilā an, setting the point at which that continuation reaches its consequence. Reading the verses in isolation would conceal this syntactic and thematic bridge.

Tishrābī, ladhdhatī, bayʿī, and infāqī all describe the first-person speaker’s practices. Taḥāmatnī al-ʿashīrah follows as the social outcome. The two lines are thus organized as habit → consequence.

16. Verse 53: tribal withdrawal and the isolated camel

إِلَى أَنْ تَحَامَتْنِي الْعَشِيرَةُ كُلُّهَا
وَأُفْرِدْتُ إِفْرَادَ الْبَعِيرِ الْمُعَبَّدِ
Meaning: Eventually my entire clan avoided me, and I was singled out like a camel smeared with tar and kept apart from the others.

Taḥāmatnī conveys avoidance or keeping a distance. Al-ʿashīratu kulluhā emphasizes the breadth of rejection. Al-baʿīr al-muʿabbad depicts a camel marked with tar and separated from other animals. The simile makes social exclusion and loneliness palpable through a familiar desert practice.

17. Al-baʿīr al-muʿabbad: the exact point of the simile

Al-muʿabbad does not mean a camel engaged in worship. Here the term concerns an animal treated with qaṭirān—tar—and segregated. Translating it merely as “obedient” would erase the distinctive physical image.

Ufridtu ifrād repeats verb and verbal noun from the same root, intensifying the idea of being singled out. The animal’s isolation becomes an immediately graspable parallel for the speaker’s alienation from his clan.

18. Taḥāmatnī and ufridtu: morphology and grammar

Taḥāmatnī is feminine singular past because its subject al-ʿashīrah is grammatically feminine; the suffix -nī is its first-person object. Kulluhā emphasizes the whole clan. Ufridtu is first-person singular passive past of form IV: “I was isolated.”

Ifrād al-baʿīr is a cognate accusative expression describing the manner of separation, comparable to a verbal noun used as an absolute object. The first clause names the avoiding collective; the passive second clause foregrounds what happened to the speaker.

19. Verse 54: the poor and the owners of grand tents

رَأَيْتُ بَنِي غَبْرَاءَ لَا يُنْكِرُونَنِي
وَلَا أَهْلَ هَذَاكَ الطِّرَافِ الْمُمَدَّدِ
Meaning: I found that the poor, figuratively identified with dusty earth, do not disown me; nor do the wealthy owners of broad leather tents refuse to recognize me.

Banī ghabrāʾ is a poetic designation for the destitute, linked to dusty ground. Al-ṭirāf is a leather tent; its broad extension evokes a prosperous household. The poet claims recognition across social strata despite his alienation from the clan as a collective.

20. Collective rejection versus recognition by individuals

Verse 53 states that the entire clan avoids the speaker, but verse 54 presents the poor and the owners of fine tents as people who still acknowledge him. The contrast is deliberate: collective exclusion need not erase every personal tie.

Lā yunkirūnanī means more than knowing the speaker’s name. The expression also suggests recognition connected with aid, generosity, and companionship. This verse therefore qualifies, rather than simply cancels, the prior image of isolation.

21. Banī ghabrāʾ and al-ṭirāf: images of social rank

Banī ghabrāʾ uses an association with earth and dust to designate the poor; it need not name a documented tribe of that title. Ahl al-ṭirāf al-mumaddad evokes the comfortable owners of broad hide tents.

Poetic phraseReference
Banī ghabrāʾThe impoverished, close to the earth
Ahl al-ṭirāfProsperous owners of spacious hide tents

Placing both extremes together asserts a social reach across classes.

22. Comparing the imagery of honor and exclusion

The opening image dhurwat al-bayt symbolizes distinction and height, while the later al-baʿīr al-muʿabbad represents exclusion. One image places the speaker at the center of public regard; the other moves him to its margins.

ImageEffect
Dhurwat al-baytHonor, prominence, attention
Al-baʿīr al-muʿabbadIsolation, avoidance, rejection

The contrasting pictures make the poem’s shift from assertion to adversity especially striking.

23. Sound, attire, and company: three layers of description

Verses 48–51 employ multiple sensory registers. Stars create a visual impression of the companions; the cloak and dyed garment provide color and appearance; vocal modulation and the answering calls of she-camels create an audible echo.

These images have distinct functions: stars suggest brilliance or social worth, attire suggests color and display, and animal calls suggest the expressive quality of sound. Reducing all of them to an undifferentiated word such as “beauty” would obscure the poet’s technique.

24. A verbal map: recognition, performance, and withdrawal

Yaltaqi refers to assembling, tulāqinī to finding or meeting, asmiʿīnā to letting someone hear, rajjaʿat to vocal modulation, taḥāmatnī to avoidance, and lā yunkirūnanī to recognition expressed through negation. The sequence of actions maps the poem’s dramatic movement.

VerbCentral meaning
AsmiʿīnāLet us hear; feminine imperative
TaḥāmatnīThe clan avoided me
UfridtuI was isolated; passive
YunkirūnanīThey fail to acknowledge me

25. Verses 47–54: structure and literary outcome

The sequence opens with claimed social eminence, moves to companions, attire, and the singer’s voice, then to prolonged pleasure and unrestrained expenditure. The clan’s avoidance is presented as a consequence, while recognition by poor and wealthy people qualifies the resulting solitude.

The passage follows a coherent pattern: self-praise → conviviality → exclusion → remaining social ties. These changes bring together the speaker’s public status, preferred way of life, its consequences, and the ties that remain. The following verses make his argument about death and enjoyment of life explicit.