The Unique Pearl - بسطت رابعة الحبل لنا

SUWAID SON OF ABU KAAHIL, OF YASHKUR

FOR the poet's tribe see ante, No. XXV, introduction. He was a Mukhadrim who lived far into the Islamic age, for it is related that he was imprisoned for uttering satires by 'Amir b. Mas'ud al-Jumahi when governor of al-Kufah (Aghanl xi. 173): 'Aamir did not become governor till A. H. 65 (Tabari ii. 466). The Aghani, however, is positive that he lived under both dispensations. He seems to have been a professional poet, since no warlike adventures are recorded of him. He celebrated the exploit of a champion of his tribe named Yazid b. Harithah at the famous battle of Dhu Qar, fought (probably) in A. D. 610 or 611 (Agh. xx. 137), but, if he was alive after A. H. 65, can scarcely have himself been present at the battle, 72 or 73 years before. He sometimes claimed to be descended from the tribe of Dhubyan, and not from Yashkur, on the ground that his mother, after bearing him to a father of the former tribe, later on became the wife of Abu Kahil of Yashkur, who adopted him. He was chiefly known as a satirist.

Our poem, like that of al-Marrar (No. XVI, ante), is evidently made up of two odes in the same metre and rhyme which have accidentally been combined: the second begins with v. 45. The subject of the first ode is the praise of the tribe of Bakr, the great group to which Yashkur belonged. The series of episodes which make up the poem is apparently uninterrupted: the picture of the lady is given in vv. 1-7; that of wakefulness caused by the nightly visit of her phantom takes up vv. 8-15; then follow more verses addressed to her under the name of Salma, vv. 16-22: in v. 1 she is called Rabi'ah, but this may mean only 'the fourth' of the family, and Salma may have been her proper name. Next comes an account of the journey to the land of Bakr, vv. 23-9; and the poem closes with a panegyric upon the great tribe of which Yashkur was a member (vv. 30-44).

The second ode is not in good condition, showing lacunae and dislocations. The amatory prelude, vv. 45-50, is followed by a gap where must have stood verses describing the poet's mount, compared in vv. 51-60 to a bull-oryx beset by dogs. After this follows another lacuna, and then a few verses (61-5) in praise of the poet's tribe. Then come two, vv. 66 and 64, which are quite out of place and disconnected: they are probably relics of a passage which has been lost. Next is a section, vv. 67-74, describing the poet's adversary in a contest of satire, and after this another break. In vv. 75-108 he celebrates his victory in the strife in a long passage which is fairly consecutive: first he describes himself, vv. 75-9, then his adversary, vv. 80-3. Then he appropriates to himself a fine image, used before him by al-Harith b. Hillizah in his Mu'allaqah of the tribe of Bakr, of a smooth rock at the top of a lofty mountainpeak, unapproachable by men vv. 84-91. After this he draws for us a picture of the actual contest, sketched in vigorous language, ending with the defeat of his adversary and his ignominious flight vv. 92-101; and closes with a boast of his powers as a satirist and poet.

The piece is interesting not only for its own merits (al-Asma'i says that it was known among the poet's contemporaries as 'the unique pearl', al yatimah), but also as showing how the poetic material elaborated by generations of artists was used again and again. We have in it adaptations of Imra' al-Qais and an-Nabighah of Dhubyan (vv. 12-15), al-Harith b. Hillizah (as already noticed), and al-A'sha (v. 90), besides many other borrowings which have become the stock-in-trade of all poets, and are no longer recognizable as the property of particular owners.

جو القصيدة: تبدأ بنسيب منفصل، يعقبه حديث عن الطيف والأرق له. ثم صفة الليل والنجوم والفجر. ثم يعود إلى التشبيب بصاحبته، فيصف عذب حديثها، وكيف قطع المهامة إليها في اليوم الشديد، وينعت الفلاة والسراب والخيل. ثم يفخر بقومه بني بكر بن وائل، بكرمهم وطيب خلقهم ووفائهم، وجمالهم وجرأتهم، وقوة أحلامهم وبأسهم، وشجاعتهم وشدة احتمالهم. ثم يعود إلى حديث الطيف والنسيب كرة أحرى، ويذكر وداعه ورحلته على ناقة شبهها بالثور الوحشي راعه الصائد والكلاب، فهو يعدو وهن خلفه عاديات. ثم يرجع إلى الفجر بقومه. فينعتهم بسعة الأخلاق والإباء والرفعة. ثم يصور لنا صورة رائعة للعداوة القاتلة يكنها له صاحبه المنافق، وكيف يكبته ويقمعه، ويتناول هذا المعنى في الأبيات 67-91. ثم وصف مفاخرته ومقارعته الخصوم وغلبته عليهم في الأبيات 92-103 وأعقب ذلك بذكر صاحبه من الجن، على مذهب شعراء العرب، أن لكل واحد منهم صاحبا يلقي الشعر على لسانه

From Diwan al-Mufaddaliyyaat

Translated by James Charles Lyall, page 139-148
https://archive.org/details/mufaddali...

Record by Abdullah al-Husayni
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Explanation
http://afaqattaiseer.net/vb/showthrea...

Second poem at 6:05