Traveler, if you happen to meet my drinking companions from Najran, tell them
we shall never meet again.
Abd Yaguth Al-Harithi Yamani 1
Don’t blame me, or I
will walk away
and leave Al-Mukalla…
Abu Bakr Salim 2
Not because they destroyed an ancient castle
or palaces whose keys were simple stone,
nor because of the desolation,
but because tonight
I
am grieving
my people.
A song in the wadi
is all that remains.
***
No one’s riding to Najran tonight,
and my drinking companions will never know.
It’s memory—not me—
who’s calling a rider to Najran tonight.
From the very beginning
I’ve preferred to drink alone,
and I never spoke those words,
not even to my god:
“Take this cup away from me.”
—
1 Yamani (ca. 578-618 AD) was a pre-Islamic poet, and was said to have written these verses while in captivity, as he was awaiting execution. As for Najran, it is an ancient city in the Arabian Peninsula (located in modern-day Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen). It is perhaps best known for the persecution and slaughter of Christians that took place there at the hands of the Himyarite king Dhu Nuwas’ between 517 and 527 CE.
2 Abu Bakr Salim (1939-2017) was a well-known Yemeni singer. Al-Mukalla is a city in modern-day Yemen. He passed away in Saudi Arabia, whose military was involved in the war in Yemen.
