1. Her knowledge led to perseverance against hardships,
When she knocked weakly, so she was revived from worries.
١. إلمامُها أهدَى إلى الصَّبِّ لَمَمْ
إذ طَرَقَتْ وهْناً فَحَيَّتْ من أَمَمْ
2. A playful one visited glory, she played
With it the paths and spacious roads evenly.
٢. لاعِبةٌ زارَتْ مُجِدّاً لَعِبَتْ
به السُّرى والأرحبيَّاتُ الرُّسُمْ
3. She spent the night showing him the full moon while he was setting,
In his presence the picked roses and meadows.
٣. باتَتْ تُريه البانَ وهو مُغْرِبٌ
في حَمْلِه الوردَ الجنيَّ والعَنَمْ
4. And at dawn the light of her morning greeted,
Her darkness, and the dawn is war against the darkness.
٤. وطَلعةً سالَم ضوءُ صُبحِها
ظلامَها والصُّبحُ حَربٌ للظُّلَمْ
5. His home has forgiven her in his heart,
As her home forgave the one from Salam.
٥. وقد عفا مَنزِلُها بقلبِه
كما عفا منزلُها بذي سَلَمْ
6. She made him a place of high and rugged terrain,
Neither does the wind subside it nor the blowing rain.
٦. أحَلَّها منه مَحَلاً صَدَداً
لا الرِّيحُ تَعفوهُ ولا صَوبُ الدِّيَمْ
7. Oh lies of nearness that brings benefit,
And oh truth of distance that takes revenge!
٧. يا كَذِبَ القُربِ المُفيدِ نِعمةً
منها ويا صِدْقَ البُعادِ المُنتَقِمُ
8. Do not deny the excess of my sickness, I only
Carried from her eyelids some of the sickness.
٨. لا تُنْكِرا فَرطَ سَقامي إنما
حَمَلْتُ عن أجفانِها بَعضَ السَّقَمْ
9. I felt comfort from her imagination that comforts,
Competing with drowsiness when drowsiness hurts.
٩. آنستُ منها بخَيالٍ آنسٍ
يُسابِقُ الغُمْضَ إذا الغُمْضُ ألَمّ
10. And opposing I see lightning flashing from it,
Like fire kindled in the fuel of pressed perfume.
١٠. وعارضٍ أكلاُ منه بارِقاً
كالنارِ شبَّتْ في ذُرى طَوْدٍ أشَمّ
11. When cares frown, the horizons of her smile differed,
And so her reproaches departed from her.
١١. إذا ادلهمَّ ابتسمَتْ لشائمٍ
أقطارُه فاختلَفتْ منه الشِّيَمْ
12. As if it is the waving of a tail by an angry lion,
So whenever it roared it ignited rage and resentment.
١٢. كأنه نَشوانُ جَرَّ ذَيلَه
فكلَّما رِيعَ انتضَى عَضْباً خَذِمْ
13. Until when the thunder sounded its tongues,
As if mixing tunes with speech.
١٣. حتى إذا الرَّعدُ انبرَتْ ألسُنُه
كأنما يَخلِطُ لَحْناً بكَلِمْ
14. So the rain poured upon its edges,
And its fire blazed from every horizon.
١٤. فاطَّرَدَ الماءُ على أرجائِه
ونارُه من كلِّ أفقٍ تَضطَرِمُ