The daughters of time have shot me, from where, I cannot see
Ramatnī banātu d-dahri min ḥayṯu lā arā
نوع الشعر: مأخوذا من شعر "إِنْ أَكُ قَدْ أَقْصَرْتُ عَنْ طُولِ رِحْلَةٍ" على بحر الطويل
الشاعر: عمرو بن قَمِيئَة بن سعد بن مالك بن ضبيعة بن قيس بن ثعلبة
منطقته: الحيرة
عصر: جاهلي - قرن الخامس-السادس
رَمَتني بَناتُ الدَهرِ مِن حَيثُ لا أَرى
فَكَيفَ لِمَن يُرمى وَلَيسَ بِرامِ
فَلَو أَنَّها نَبلٌ إِذاً لَاتَّقَيتُها
وَلَكِنَّما أَرمي بِغَيرِ سِهامِ
اِِذَا مَا رَاَني النَاسُ قَالُوا أَلَمْ تَكُنْ
حَدِيثًا جَدِيدَ البَزِّ غَيرَ كَهَامِ
وَأَفْنى وَما أُفْنى مِن الدَهرِ لَيلةً
وَلَم يُفْنِ ما أَفْنَيتُ سِلكَ نِظامِ
وَأَهْلَكْني تَأميلُ يَومٍ ولَيلةٍ
وَتَأميلُ عَامٍ بَعدَ ذاك وَعَامِ
Type of poem: taken from the poem "In aku qad aqṣartu ʕan ṭūli riḥlatin" in metre Ṭawīl
Name of poet: ʕamrū b. Qamīʔah b. Saʕd b. Mālik b. Ḍabīʕah b. Qays b. Ṯaʕlabah
Region of poet: al-Ḥīrah (in Mesopotamia, the Laḫmid capital)
Era: Pre-Islāmic - 5th-6th century
The daughters of time[1] have shot me, from where, I cannot see
and what of him who is shot when he is not shooting?
And had they shot me with arrows, I would've guarded against them
but I am shot at with that which is not arrow nor dart!
When my people would see me, they'd say: were you not
vigorous, young, of sharp and bright armour, and no sluggish fighter!
I am taken and cannot take of time a single night[2]
for what I take does not take from time but a thread[3]
So I wear out in hope for that[4] day, for that night
and in hope for that year, and then year after year
[1] e.g the vicissitudes of time, destiny, fate, etc. In tribal and particularly patriarchal societies, which the Arabian societies at the time certainly were, daughters are unfortunately of little to no to less than no value owing to the primacy of patrilineal descent on one hand and the political dimensions of kinship through marriage on the other - sons afford alliances, strengthening of safety, power, and status, and, of course, furthering bloodlines, whereas daughters are married off and provide neither.
This poem was composed near the end of the poet's life, who attained the age of around 91-92 years, highly unusual for his day and age, and recalls his days of youth.
[2] e.g. the poet is, on one hand, taken by time, fate, etc., wasted thereby, perishing therefrom, yet he cannot, in return, take away from time a single night for it is not his to take and time is inexhaustible. This half-verse pair is difficult to render in English as the poet uses the same verb - (it) ʔafnā, mā (not) (it) ʔafnā, lam (not-future) (it) yufni, (I) ʔafnaytu - throughout, with different shades of meaning and aspect/tense signifying: to waste/perish/be destroyed/annihilated, to exhaust/cause to cease/vanish/come to an end, to waste, etc., to exhaust, etc., resp.
[3] viz. a string for threading beads on - a miniscule, insignificant thing that pales in comparison to time, fate, etc.
[4] viz. that day, that night, that year when death shall come - or time shall end, for the poet
