1. You were my wish, so you became all I wish for,
A loving brother, afflicted at heart because of you.

2. His fervor called him, blinded by passion for you,
Beyond the deserts that save the survivors he went seeking you.

3. Alluring when the night spreads its darkness,
Intensifying in it his torment for his loved ones.

4. The guide of longing forcibly called him to them
Beyond the sands of Al-Udhayb and its expanse he urged him.

5. Terrains where the hills are humiliated at their sides,
And a valley that terrifies the wide wilderness is its path.

6. And mirage, when I described it to the scout,
Its ending was, from afar, its beginning.

7. The guide avoids it after its deception,
When the surface of the mirage is blurred and frightening.

8. As if the tall hills within it are ships
And the twisting sands are its overwhelming waves.

9. My loved ones, how I miss you after the separation,
A heart that strongly feels the pain of your memory.

10. You are gone, and I have a steadfast heart, wounded,
And you left, and I have an eye sleepless, its eyelid torn.

11. I ask about you from every land I see,
Emptied for you, and fate has ended its prosperity.

12. And I cry with an eye, hurt by your wailing,
A casualties eye, pouring tears, bloodying it.

13. Renewed for me through every youthful gazelle,
Reminding me of a time past, its vision gone.

14. It makes my eyes happy with its tears,
So woe to him whose eyes have lost their helper at separation!

15. Indeed, the supporters of whom I have become,
His eye at distance, a helper in love, have diminished.

16. And he undervalued his tears the day we parted,
By the will of purpose and separation, though they were so dear.

17. And he showed, of his love’s secrets,
All that he had kept hidden by what overflowed from him.

18. Yearning for the distant homeland and its nearness,
To a neighbor at Al-Manahah he appeals for it.

19. And longing for the people of Al-Uqayq, so much
It protects his eyelids and draws them near.

20. After the youth in him was marred by passion’s scorching,
And time made the exuberance in them infertile and ended it.

21. They went far, and he was content with their greeting
From afar, or a phantom that comes to him when he sleeps.

22. And it was not in a lover's mind that
His hopes would fail and his endeavor disappoint.

23. He had not been pleased, when near their homes,
With what he had wished and sought from them.

24. And when that company went far from the sanctuary,
And the camels of the two groups set out,

25. And a gazelle that used to be led, with the morning breeze,
When they prevented me from union, went its way.

26. And my heart remained, though bound by love,
Coming and going, while still partly shackled.

27. I allowed my tears, and the clouds their tears,
Grief for the departing land to flow profusely.

28. And I shed a pouring tear, abundant, pure,
Whose drops the shower cannot match in flow.

29. And I said to my heart, “Long has your affliction been with anguish,
Where are its nights, and whom were you infatuated with?”

30. And I said, “Refrain from blaming me for
A passion I do not approve or accept.”

31. So how can an ardent lover, in love's doctrine,
Stop what the blame, though he sees it, urges him to?!

32. I was not, before separation and union, someone who
Saw life flourishing and green through meeting them.

33. Praiseworthy, when his land revived, lively,
Appealing, when the eye did not lose its vision.

34. That life was never as pure for a moment,
Once it was hidden, and its lightning gone.

35. On a night he came to me unexpectedly,
Crossing the darkness, may God not make his course small!

36. He stayed, and that beauty shone willingly
Upon my eyes in the night, the light of his cheek.

37. I spent the night, and I had two lights:
The light of his forehead in the darkness, and the light of his smile.

38. I give him a cup of wine, as though
It is the extract of his cheek that he sips.

39. A wine, that when it flows gently and sparkles, you'd think it
The produce of his oppression, plucked while still unripe.

40. I greeted him with it, pouring until it killed his sadness,
The prolonged days of distance giving him life.

41. It comforted a heart long burdened with concerns,
The long separation had made it distraught.

42. And distraught, he regards the gazelles because of it,
Passionately in love, so sublime in his passion.

43. He did not know what separation, love,
Or the pains of estrangement and distance were, had it not been for him.

44. The meadow was not watered by the clouds with its water,
Embroidered by the weeping of the clouds, were it not for him.

45. It exuded fragrance when the morning breeze
Blew upon its sides, his brilliance and his flowers.

46. The succession of his beauty's seeds spawned blossoms in it,
Like my poetry when the mind composes its meaning.

47. It casts for it the proper words eloquently,
Clear to the feeble mind, comprehensive in meaning.

48. It has joys in the minds, as though
Its passionate imaginings were stirred about them.

49. The sorcery of his words plays with intellects,
When uttered in assemblies, by mouths.

50. A poem, when I articulate the essence of its words
And explain its meaning and perfect its composition,

51. The prime of this age comes near to it, and often
It succeeds while my poetry fails and embarrasses it.