1. أَفي ما تُؤَدّي الريحُ عَرفُ سَلامِ

    وَمِمّا يَشُبُّ البَرقُ نارُ غَرامِ

    Is a greeting's fragrance in what the wind conveys,

    and a fire of passion among what the lightning kindles?

  2. وَإِلّا فَماذا أَرَّجَ الريحَ سَحرَةً

    وَأذكى عَلى الأَحشاءِ لَفحَ ضِرامِ

    If not, what perfumed the wind before dawn

    and stoked a blaze's scorching heat upon my vitals?

  3. أَما وَجُمانٍ مِن حَديثِ عَلاقَةٍ

    يَهُزُّ إِلَيهِ الشَيخُ عِطفَ غُلامِ

    Indeed, by the pearls of a tale of love,

    to which the old man sways with a youth's suppleness,

  4. تَحَلَّت بِهِ مابَينَ سَلمى وَمَربَعٍ

    سَوالِفُ أَيّامٍ سَلَفنَ كِرامِ

    with which, between Salma and a spring encampment, were adorned

    the necks of noble days long gone,

  5. لَقَد هَزَّني في رَيطَةِ الشَيبِ هَزَّةً

    أَرَتني وَرائي في الشَبابِ أَمامي

    it truly stirred me, in the mantle of gray hair, with a tremor

    that showed me my youthful past ahead of me.

  6. فَلَولا دِفاعُ اللَهِ عُجتُ مَعَ الهَوى

    وَجُلتُ بِواديهِ أَجُرُّ خِطامي

    But for God's protection, I would have veered with desire,

    and roamed its valley, dragging my halter.

  7. وَرُبَّ لَيالٍ بِالغَميمِ أَرِقتُها

    لِمَرضى جُفونٍ بِالفُراتِ نِيامِ

    Many a night at al-Ghamim I spent sleepless

    for those with languid eyelids, asleep by the Euphrates.

  8. يَطولُ عَلَيَّ اللَيلُ ياأُمَّ مالِكٍ

    وَكُلُّ لَيالي الصَبِّ لَيلُ تَمامِ

    The night grows long for me, O Umm Malik,

    and every night of the lovelorn is winter's longest night.

  9. وَلَم أَدرِ ما أَشجى وَأَدعى إِلى الهَوى

    أَخَفقَهُ بَرقٍ أَم غِناءُ حَمامِ

    Nor did I know what was more poignant and more inviting to love:

    a flash of lightning, or the singing of doves?

  10. إِذا ما اِستَخَفَّتني لَها أَريحِيَّةٌ

    عَثَرتُ بِذَيلي لَوعَةٍ وَظَلامِ

    Whenever an eager impulse for her swept me away,

    I stumbled over the twin hems of anguish and darkness.

  11. وَخَضخَضتُ دونَ الحَيِّ أَحشاءَ لَيلَةٍ

    يُخَفِّرُني فيها وَميضُ غَمامِ

    And, short of the encampment, I churned the entrails of a night

    in which a cloud's lightning flash served as my escort.

  12. فَقَضَّيتُها ما بَينَ رَشفَةِ لَوعَةٍ

    وَأَنَّةِ شَكوى وَاِعتِناقِ غَرامِ

    So I spent it between a sip of anguish,

    and a moan of complaint, and an embrace of passion.

  13. وَأَحسَنُ ما اِلتَفَّت عَلَيهِ دُجُنَّةٌ

    عِناقُ حَبيبٍ عَن عِناقِ حُسامِ

    And the loveliest thing that deep darkness enfolds

    is an embrace of a beloved, rather than an embrace of a sword.

  14. فَلَيتَ نَسيمَ الريحِ رَقرَقَ أَدمُعي

    خِلالَ دِيارٍ بِاللِوى وَخِيامِ

    If only the wind's breeze would ripple my tears

    through the dwellings and tents at al-Liwa,

  15. وَعاجَ عَلى أَجراعِ وادٍ بِذي الغَضا

    فَصافَحَ عَنّي فَرعَ كُلِّ بِشامِ

    and turn toward a valley's sandy reaches at Dhu al-Ghada,

    then shake hands, on my behalf, with every balsam branch.

  16. مَسَحتُ لَهُ عَن ناظِرِيَّ صَبابَةً

    وَأَقلِل بِدَمعي مِن قَضاءِ ذِمامِ

    I wiped yearning from my eyes for it—

    and how scant are my tears in discharging a bond of loyalty!

  17. فَيا عَرفَ ريحٍ عاجَ عَن بَطنِ لَعلَعٍ

    يَجُرُّ عَلى الأَنداءِ فَضلَ زِمامِ

    So, O fragrance of a wind that turned from Laʿlaʿ's hollow,

    dragging a rein's loose end across the dew,

  18. بِما بَينَنا بِالحِقفِ مِن رَملِ عالِجٍ

    وَفي مُلتَقى الأَرطى بِسَفحِ شِمامِ

    by what we shared at the curved dune in the sands of ʿAlij,

    and where the arta shrubs meet at the foot of Shimam,

  19. تَلَذَّذ بِدارِ القَصفِ عَنِّيَ ساعَةً

    وَأَبلِغ نَداماها أَعَمَّ سَلامِ

    delight for a while in the house of revelry on my behalf,

    and convey an all-embracing greeting to its drinking companions.

  20. وَقُل لِغَمامٍ أَلحَفَ الأَرضَ ذَيلَهُ

    فَلَفَّ فُجاجاً تَحتَهُ بِإِكامِ

    And say to a cloud that draped the earth with its hem,

    wrapping the valleys beneath it together with the hillocks:

  21. أَما لَكَ مِن ظِلٍّ يُبَرِّدُ مَضجَعي

    أَما لَكَ مِن طَلٍّ يَبُلُّ أَوامي

    Have you no shade to cool my bed?

    Have you no dew to moisten my burning thirst?

  22. وَأَيُّ نَدىً أَو بَردِ ظِلٍّ لِمُزنَةٍ

    عَلى عَقبِ أَترابٍ رُزِئنَ كِرامِ

    Yet what dew or cool shade can a rain cloud offer

    after noble companions have been lost?

  23. وَقَفتُ وُقوفَ الشَكِّ بَينَ قُبورِهِم

    أُعَظِّمُها مِن أَعظُمٍ وَرِجامِ

    I stood in disbelief among their graves,

    revering them—bones and heaps of stones.

  24. وَأَندُبُ أَشجى رَنَّةٍ مِن حَمامَةٍ

    وَأَبكي وَأَقضي مِن ذِمامِ رِمامِ

    And I lament with a cry more plaintive than a dove's,

    and weep, repaying part of my debt to their moldering remains.

  25. قَضوا بَينَ وادٍ لِلسَماحِ وَمَشرَعٍ

    وَغارِبِ عِزٍّ في العُلى وَسَنامِ

    They died—among them a valley of generosity and a watering place,

    and the withers of honor on high, and its hump;

  26. وَمُنتَصِبٍ كَالرُمحِ هِزَّةَ عِزَّةٍ

    وَفَتكَةَ بَأسٍ وَاِستِواءَ قَوامِ

    and one upright as a spear, with a proud flourish,

    a mighty, deadly stroke, and a straight, well-proportioned frame;

  27. وَمُنصَلِتٍ كَالسَيفِ نُصرَةَ صاحِبٍ

    وَضِحكَةَ بِشرٍ وَاِعتِزازَ مَقامِ

    and one drawn like a sword in a friend's defense,

    in a cheerful smile, and in the dignity of his station;

  28. وَمُنتَقِلٍ مُستَقبِلٍ كَعبَةَ العُلى

    يُصَلّي بِأَهليها صَلاةَ زُؤامِ

    and one journeying, facing the Kaaba of exaltation,

    leading its people in a prayer of sudden death.

  29. تَهِلُّ لَهُ مِن عِفَّةٍ في طَلاقَةٍ

    كَأَنَّ بِبُردَيهِ هِلالَ صِيامِ

    You rejoice in his chastity joined with open cheer,

    as though the crescent of fasting lay within his two cloaks.

  30. وَما ضَرَّهُ أَن يَستَسِرَّ لِعاتِمٍ

    إِذا ما بَدا في آخِرٍ بِتَمامِ

    Nor does it harm him to be hidden from a latecomer,

    if he later appears in all his fullness.