1. O dwellings of the living with the two Sabu'ans,
Upon them time has spread its manifold changes,

2. Day and night are constant in their succession
Through every state of fate they alternate.

3. Show me dwellings of the living, let no estrangement be between us,
But only the excitements of youth.

4. For to people and life there is always allurement,
And when we were young our manners were easy.

5. She hinted with a glance of her eye until I understood
Modestly, though her lips did not speak it.

6. Like the egg of a crested lark fluttering above,
Two fledglings, startled at dawn yet alone.

7. They sensed the presence of beasts of prey and enemies,
So they crouched fearful beneath the tall nest.

8. They huddled between the two sand hills and thickets
And the smooth-barked jujube tree's branches.

9. One evening she said to me and to my companion
With a flash of her beautiful teeth, "Will you not come in?"

10. When we entered she drew in her bridle
And I held back from some of the boon companions.

11. Consider, my friend, do you see any of the gazelles
Borne by the lofty sands above the meadow?

12. He said, "I see them between the soft sands of Tibraka
And Tilham, now that the knowledge of places has led me."

13. And her eye has excelled over his,
While the cutting of separation has sundered my companion from me.

14. We journeyed from those gardens after staying
And suffering anguish in your heart from my distress.

15. With each forearm bared and rolled up
As if his sleeves were tailored by Thaqif of Ira.

16. Like the shedding of the skin by every free and noble
Bay or chestnut horse, unmatched by any other.

17. And every courser, either asfour or musaddam,
Extending with the gait of a free and noble steed.

18. We took a path to the right through the twisted Lukayz
And to the left through the almond trees, following the torrent valley.

19. We kindled a fire for the herdsmen with sticks
Flaring and smoking without emitting smoke.

20. We breakfasted on the water of the two valleys, pure
By the measure of a water skin when the ibexes appeared.

21. We arose and from that night of intimacy
Left for the lover nothing but the rear guard.

22. And we married at nightfall when the Pleiades withdrew
Like a shooting star flung at the neighing camels.

23. There came to them the milk of the ostrich
Contained in the vessel with two handles above the gardens.