1. When care descended as slumber departed,
And the night grew long, secluding intimacy,

2. I let my eyes wander between pure whiteness
And where the pillar rises to support the roof.

3. And if I gained immortality without seeing you again
With that intensity, immortality would be rejected.

4. I watch the Pleiades until dawn enfolds it
From the horizon in prostration.

5. Suhail rises afterward from its setting
Gleaming as though it were freshly shed blood.

6. And below where you camp, the tents’ peaks
Resemble aloes and the withered raeda plant.

7. As though their guy-ropes and tent pegs
Were a settled Nabataean tribe surrounding them.

8. From Hejaz’s sands, veiled women appear,
As do young maidens and heavily veiled brides.

9. The full moon revealed herself, flirting with you,
Scheming harmfully as she flirted.

10. When I drew near and she frowned and pulled away,
Keepings her distance disdainfully.

11. How could you kill me, O mother of Badr,
When you owe me no blood nor legal penalties?

12. Without concealing herself, Umm Badr saddens
The hearts of hopeful lovers but is no spendthrift with her gifts.

13. My glance, when I cast it, is infirm,
While your glance, when you cast it, is steel.

14. Indeed, O mother of Badr, al-‘Amariyya
Is a bosom friend, though she keeps her distance, wandering freely.