1. My tears traced patterns upon my thoughts
As a lover saw lightning flash over the dunes

2. And spoke to the ruins he saw desolate
Of a people and home, but the ruins were silent

3. He saw there only a son of the desert sands
A bird hovering above the open plains

4. The dwellings where youth once gathered
Are gone, only their traces remain

5. Pastures watered with pouring rain
Like my tears when sorrow overtakes me

6. I greeted the living tribe, grieved and desolate
Wandered astray, their pacts broken

7. If they broke their vows, still their vows hold
Lost only if safety is counted as loss

8. The loves that drew me gently into passion
Impulses of longing I cannot renounce

9. In the ruins of that house I wander distraught
My tears flowing, eyelids washed red

10. I water the soil of those hills with my tears
Leaving the doves to mourn in solitude

11. I look upon those scenes now deserted
Where tears flow and memories surface

12. When lightning flashed in that barren place
Its red tails flaring bright

13. It revived memories of maidens long gone
And a people, their hearth cold and dead

14. I yearn for the days of visitation - will I see
That time of intimacy with loved ones again?

15. Only nearness can soothe the fires of longing
When passions blaze, a balm for their sting

16. The longing of leaves when the wind song has ceased
Once whispering through gardens, now muted

17. The myrtle moans like a dove in the branches
As if the tender plants have become empty palaces

18. Then my heart breaks when the myrtle shrieks
And the two encampments stand depopulated

19. I long for the neighbors of Salkh and Hajir
Though they betrayed me, my secret now common

20. With a blade that smoothes all rough edges
Broad enough to welcome even enemies

21. I cut my way through obstacles onward
To the brilliant stars glowing pure

22. The excellence of my true friends calls me back
Though the false ones bow down before me

23. Yearning, the camels of love kneel upon the sands
Near the encampment where the stars shine bright

24. I ride upon the back of my she-camel bowed down
Prostate, from fear of my Lord, head to the ground

25. Until I see a radiant sun rise
From the encampment, or a moon from the tents

26. How many nights have I spent watching the stars
While my eyes envied the sleeping eyes

27. I stay awake, the stars confused in their courses
Abandoning sleep upon my mattress

28. Passionate for a face that would shine if unveiled
Lighting the horizon, radiant and bright

29. The full moon itself would bow to him
Its gaze lowered, humbled at the sight

30. What garden adorned by the hand of life
With cloud's weeping, branches trailing

31. Could smile with a light more beautiful
And exhale a fragrance more sublime

32. Than the pearls of my words and the treasures of verse
That adorn language and captivate all ears

33. His eloquence amazes the Lord of speech
Yet it rivals my poetry, free of fear

34. You can see him regret his lofty airs
When my verse challenges him and old age nears

35. Within my ribs there burns a brand
For my poetry has forged verses as shields