1. We paused at the quarter of al-Malikiyyah, a pause
That stirred in us what had befallen the quarter,

2. Evoking sorrow in a heart and tears in an eye.
So one grieved while another shed copious tears.

3. Yet this anguish would persist until it provoked me,
While we were in Sal' pining for Sal'.

4. A passion for a group, O Hudhaym, and an assembly,
And a gathering where terrors had gathered.

5. And a yearning that sorely hurt my heart, having no patience,
Though knowing that patience brings greater benefit.

6. It reminds me of bright days that have passed,
Briefly providing drink, then refusing to give.

7. I cannot forget when she visited me by night, stayed over,
The doe of love making my hearing her dwelling.

8. Her slender form emulated the branches in the dark,
Like the full moon rising in the blackness of the boughs.

9. She repeated in my ear her gentle reproaches,
Like the melodious cooing of a sandgrouse with assonance.

10. Her words pierced as sharply as her slender waist,
In delicate phrases hinted by my tears.

11. Once she gave me a slap for not noticing
The spies to my right in the thicket.

12. For the taste of it still remains in my mouth,
And the pleasure of those words still rings in my ears.

13. But that was before we saw the firebrands
And before we were parted by separation's cleft.