1. Alas, O gentle breeze of Najd, I am inflamed with love from Najd,
So you have stirred in me an anguished love-longing.

2. Will the delicate leaves in the freshness of morning
Sigh over tender shoots in the dewy glade?

3. I wept as the lovelorn weep in their solitude,
Wasting away in distracting grief and toil.

4. Alas, is there any remedy for the severing absence,
Or any requital for nights that have slipped away?

5. Are my days like the frail stem of lote-tree,
Fleeting days, though once full of joy?

6. If I say today, "Stop by the encampment and the cool drink,"
Will my brothers stay there to fulfill my wish,

7. And thus earn my reward and complete my praise?
If not, then go in peace. You are not my guides.

8. I have no rope today that I can tug
To loosen it or pull it taut.

9. Rather, I have only the hand of Umm 'Amr. Would that
When she takes a pledge, she repays it with good faith!

10. Would that I knew what fate of long exile
Brings me distress after hardship and distance -

11. The fate that approaches Umm 'Amr, while afterwards
My censurers enjoy her company when I am gone.

12. Will you make me suffer at the hands of the foe
To spite me, or will you keep our love alive?

13. I swear by God, she will never harm me;
The shy maid fears none in my presence.

14. They claimed that a lover, when near his beloved,
Becomes weary, and distance cures longing.

15. With all cures we tried, they did not heal our state,
For nearness of the abode is better than distance.

16. My passion in this valley, the valley of Tihāmah,
Is not the same as when we dwelled on the plateau of Najd.

17. By God, Lord of the House, you will never find me
Intending to cut your bond deliberately.

18. Nor will I seek anything that would break
What lies between us until I am laid in my grave.

19. For love of her I have loved those who cannot
Match her hand with hand or match her gift to me.

20. Oh, but sometimes longing and ardour grant me
A memento of her in absence I seldom find.

21. I recall her beauty spot out of excessive love,
At dawn and when the Pleiades set to direct us.

22. When I recalled her, my eyes did not control
Their tears until they flowed down my cheek.

23. My friends blamed me, saying: "Do you cry from passion?
If only they felt your pangs!"

24. And they said: "We used to consider you once
A stoic! This is not the act of a resolute man!"

25. Do not blame me, for even if I have recoiled
From her love, she does not cease to be my love and friend.

26. Did you not know the young men have never ceased
To be tempted by elders and weaklings?

27. If I err, do not record my missteps against you.
Indeed, if I act rightly, you have no claim to my rectitude.

28. Indeed, my friend, she of the beauty mark has a charm
And status none have gained in my eyes.

29. Ask the revelers when they say to me,
"Drink, brother of the cup, and give drink to the noble!"

30. Veils of the tent parted for us, revealing her,
While inattentiveness overtook the watcher.

31. In my eyes a glance pouring tears from them
Indifferent streams of tears and swelling.