عطشى العتيق من الجديد قد ارتوى

لما به قصري على الماء استوى

My age-old thirst has been quenched by the new,

When my palace stood there upon the water.

نهر جرى ويقال عنه أعوج

وإن استقام كماله الراوي روى

A river flowed, and it is called Aʿwaj, “Crooked,”

Though it runs straight; the narrator has recounted its perfection.

فجلست في قصري عليه وكان لي

قلب به ولكل قلب ما نوى

So I sat in my palace above it, and I had

A heart in it; each heart has what it intends.

ونظرتُ فيه إلى جهاتٍ أربعٍ

إطلاقها لي مطلق كل القوى

And there I looked toward four directions;

Their openness to me set all my faculties free.

ونسيمها ذاك اللطيف كأنه

روح على جسد الفلاة قد احتوى

And that gentle breeze of theirs was like

A spirit that had enfolded the desert’s body.

والماء عذب رائق متدفق

يطفي حرارات القلوب من الجوى

And the water was sweet, clear, flowing,

Quenching the hearts’ burning heat of longing.

نعمت ليالينا هناك مسرة

وانحل قيد القلب من أسر السوى

Our nights there were blissful with delight,

And the heart was unshackled from bondage to all else.

وكأنما أيامنا أعيادنا

في سفح كاظمة على ذاك اللوى

And it was as though our days were our feast days,

At the foot of Kazimah, upon that curving dune.

حيث السماع تهيجنا ناياته

بالنفخ من داء الهموم هو الدوا

Where music’s reed flutes stir us

With their breath; it is the cure for the sickness of cares.

حيث الغناء يكاد يبصر سامع

بخطابه القدسي في وادي طوى

Where, in song, a listener almost sees,

Through its sacred address in the valley of Tuwa.

وتتابعت بشرى السرور لجمعنا

والقرب جاء وقد مضى يوم النوى

And glad tidings of joy followed one another for our gathering,

And nearness came, the day of separation already past.

لولا الهوى ما طاب لي عيش بها

ما طاب لي عيش بها لولا الهوى

Were it not for love, life there would not be sweet to me;

Life there would not be sweet to me, were it not for love.

والوقت عني للجماعة قائل

ما ضل صاحبكم هناك وما غوى

And time says to the company on my behalf:

Your companion neither strayed there nor erred.