1. Alas! Is there no clear separation from constant love
And respite from nights that have borrowed against me?

2. Are days like the swaying ears of barley
Ever to return as they were in good fortune?

3. If I said today, "Turn aside, friends,
To the shade of the branches and cold drink,"

4. Would you stay put until completing an errand
To earn your wage and fulfill my praise?

5. Or will you leave with peace upon you both -
For you have no right guidance or steadfastness from me.

6. I have no rope today that I can tug on
Or relax without contention or pulling.

7. Rather, Umm 'Amr pledged surety. Would that
When pledging surety, she would follow through faithfully!

8. Alas! I wish I knew what brings me
Thoughts of the loneliness of a distant house and land -

9. Thoughts of Umm 'Amr where thoughts wander,
Then the spying backbiters have their way after me.

10. Do I become hostile to those who are enemies
While Umm 'Amr gloats over them against my love?

11. And my thoughts of her are every thought of an absent one -
Loyal in advice or lasting in covenant.

12. By God, my thoughts of her are that she will never harm me
When she has a ewe that will not harm her in my eyes.

13. They claimed that a lover, when close, is wearied,
And distance cures the pining.

14. We have tried every cure, but nothing cured us -
Though nearness of home is better than remoteness.

15. My love lies in this valley, the valley of Tihama,
And this land is not like the plateau of Najd.

16. By God, Lord of the House, you will never find me
Deliberately cutting ties with you all.

17. Nor will I seek to do what would sever
What lies between us until I am laid in the grave.

18. Out of love for her I've loved those who don't love me
And befriended those I used to shun with all my might.

19. Alas! Sometimes yearning and passion
For her from afar stir a remembrance seldom felt.

20. O morning breeze of Najd! When you blow from Najd,
You increase my joy and compound my pining.

21. Did the tender leaves tremble at dawn
Over the blossoms of soft green vegetation?

22. You wept as a newborn weeps, though you were not
Hardened, and showed what you did not use to show.

23. My camel-litter turned from 'Adan to Najd,
Yet the passage of time did not make it forget its homeland.

24. If I wish, I meet the warriors, but I do not see
Among my people any like them, beloved by my love.

25. I cast off those who cast off from a bow of hatred -
For neither against my lord is my zeal nor my earnestness.