لَعَمْرِي لَنِعْمَ الْحَيُّ جَرَّ عَلَيْهِمْ ۞ بِمَا لَا يُؤَاتِيهِمْ حُصَيْنُ بْنُ ضَمْضَمِ
By my life, Ḥuṣayn ibn Ḍamḍam brought upon that worthy tribe a calamity wholly ill-suited to its welfare.
La-ʿamrī introduces an oath, while la-niʿma al-ḥayy expresses esteem for the tribe amid lament over its predicament. Jarra ʿalayhim means to bring an unwelcome consequence upon others. The poet criticizes the harm caused to a community by one man’s private vendetta.
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Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā: Ḥuṣayn ibn Ḍamḍam, Revenge and the Cost of Bloodshed (Verses 33–42)
لَعَمْرِي لَنِعْمَ الْحَيُّ جَرَّ عَلَيْهِمْ ۞ بِمَا لَا يُؤَاتِيهِمْ حُصَيْنُ بْنُ ضَمْضَمِ
By my life, Ḥuṣayn ibn Ḍamḍam brought upon that worthy tribe a calamity wholly ill-suited to its welfare.
La-ʿamrī introduces an oath, while la-niʿma al-ḥayy expresses esteem for the tribe amid lament over its predicament. Jarra ʿalayhim means to bring an unwelcome consequence upon others. The poet criticizes the harm caused to a community by one man’s private vendetta.