1. مَزَجت دُموع جُفونِهِ بِدِماءِ

    ذِكراهُ لِلأَحباب وَالقَرناءِ

    His eyelids’ tears were mingled with blood

    by his remembrance of loved ones and companions.

  2. دَنف يَدُبُّ السُمّ في أَعضائِهِ

    مِن سورة الأَشواق وَالبَرحاءِ

    A wasted man, poison creeping through his limbs

    from the fury of longing and anguish.

  3. وَصل الضَنا أَوصالَهُ مُستَأصِلاً

    لِلجسم وَصل النار لِلحلفاءِ

    Wasting has reached his joints, utterly consuming

    his body, as fire consumes halfa grass.

  4. ذو مُقلَةٍ مَقروحَةٍ مُتَجنب

    عَنها الكَرى وَكّافة الأَنواءِ

    He has a wounded eye, shunned

    by slumber, pouring down rainstorms.

  5. مُتَمَلمِلٌ قَلِقٌ سَحابة لَيلِهِ

    وَنَهارِهِ متمنع الإغفاءِ

    Restless and anxious through the whole of his night

    and day, unable to doze.

  6. فَكَأَن مِن شَوك القتاد وسادهُ

    وَكَأَنَّ مَضجعَهُ مِن الرَمضاءِ

    As though his pillow were made of qatad thorns,

    and his bed of scorching ground.

  7. يُبدي ضراعة مُستَكين لِلنَوى

    عَن مُسعَديهِ وَمُؤنسيهِ نائي

    He shows the pleading of one subdued by separation,

    far from those who comfort and befriend him.

  8. لَم أَنسَ يَوماً مَرَّ لي في جَلق

    مَثوى الجَمال وَمَوطن الظُرَفاءِ

    I have not forgotten a day I spent in Jilliq,

    the abode of beauty and home of the refined,

  9. في رَوضَة مَوسومة بتراتع ال

    آرام بَل بِمُصارع الشُهَداءِ

    in a garden marked by the grazing grounds of

    gazelles—rather, by the places where martyrs fall.

  10. رقمت بِزَهرٍ يانع جَنباتِها

    كَالوَشي في الدِيباجَة الخَضراءِ

    Its sides were embroidered with flourishing flowers,

    like ornament on green brocade.

  11. مَسكية أَنفاسُها فَكَأَنَّما

    هَبَت نَسائِمُها بِنَشر كَباءِ

    Its breaths were musky, as though

    its breezes blew with the fragrance of incense.

  12. يَنسابُ جَولَها عَلى الكافور وَال

    عقبان مِن تُرب وِمِن حَصباءِ

    Its stream glides over camphor and

    gold, in place of dust and pebbles [reading uncertain].

  13. ضَحكت مَباسم نورَها لَما بَكى

    فيها الغَمام بِأَدمُع الأَنداءِ

    The smiling mouths of its blossoms laughed when

    the clouds wept there with tears of dew.

  14. تَسري بِها ريح الشمال عَليلة

    فَتَخص مَوتى الهَم بِالأَحياءِ

    The north wind wafts through it, languid,

    reviving those whom care has killed.

  15. وَتَجُرُّ أَذيالاً هُناكَ بَليلةً

    تَندى لَمس وَرانك الأَفياءِ

    And there it trails moist skirts,

    dewy to the touch amid the shade [text unclear].

  16. ما بَينَ نَغمة مَنطق بِبنانِهِ ال

    وَتَر الفَصيح وَرَنة الوَرقاءِ

    Amid the melody of one whose fingers give voice to

    the eloquent string, and the gray dove’s call,

  17. وَحَنين نَأي يَنفخ الأَرواح في

    صَرعى العَنا وَالوَجد وَالاَهواءِ

    and the plaint of a flute breathing spirits into

    those struck down by suffering, yearning, and passion;

  18. وَمُغَرّد فيهِ اِشتياق مُتيم

    يَشدو بِأَشجى مَنطق وَغِناءِ

    and a singer filled with a besotted lover’s longing,

    chanting in the most plaintive voice and song;

  19. وَمقرطق يَسعى إِلى النَدماءِ

    بِعَقيقة في دُرة بَيضاءِ

    and a tunic-clad youth hurrying to the drinking companions

    with an agate in a white pearl.

  20. وَنَديمنا ظَبيٌ غَريرٌ بَينَنا

    كَالبَدر بَينَ كَواكب الجَوزاء

    Our drinking companion was an innocent gazelle among us,

    like the full moon amid the stars of al-Jawza.

  21. أَبَداً تَرى ماءَ الحَياة بِخَدِهِ

    مترقرِقاً مِن نعمة وَحياءِ

    You always see the water of life upon his cheek,

    shimmering with well-being and modesty.

  22. السُحُرُ يَعبد لَحظُهُ وَالظَرف يَخ

    دم لَفظَهُ بِغَرائب الأَنباءِ

    Magic worships his glance, and wit serves

    his speech with marvelous tales.

  23. تَستلّ أَحلام الرِجال جُفونَهُ

    بِعَزائِمِ التَرنيق وَالأَغضاءِ

    His eyelids steal away men’s reason

    with the spells of languid glances and lowered lids.

  24. نَشوان مِن سُكر الصِبى فَكَأَنَّما

    لَعبت بِمعطفِهِ يَد الصَهباءِ

    Drunk on youth’s intoxication, as though

    the hand of tawny wine had played with his supple frame.

  25. وَيَهز لِمح الطَرف عامل قَدهِ

    هَزّ النَسائِمِ بانةُ الجَرعاءِ

    A darting glance sways the spear-shaft of his figure,

    as breezes sway a ban tree on the sandy plain.

  26. خنث المَفاصل مطمع متمنع

    مُتناسب الحَركات وَالأَعضاءِ

    Supple-jointed, enticing yet elusive,

    harmonious in movement and limb.

  27. أَعضاؤُهُ نَمَت عَلى ما اِستَودَعَت

    أَوهامُهُ مِن رِقة وَصَفاءِ

    His limbs grew to embody what

    his fancies held of delicacy and purity.

  28. وَيَلوح دَمع العاشِقين بِخَدِهِ

    مُتَزاحِماً أَبَداً لِطَرف الرائي

    Lovers’ tears gleam upon his cheek,

    forever crowding before the beholder’s eye.

  29. لَو أَبصَرَتهُ القاصِرات العين لاف

    تَتَنَت بِسحر المُقلة النَجلاءِ

    Had the maidens of restrained gaze seen him, they would

    have been bewitched by the magic of his wide dark eye.

  30. وَجُلوسَنا مِن حَول بَركَتِها كَما

    دارَ السوار بِمعصم الحَسناءِ

    And our sitting around its pool, as

    a bracelet encircles a beautiful woman’s wrist.

  31. لَما رَأى قَلَقي لِقُرب رَقيبِهِ

    قَلق العَليل لِطَلعة الظَلماءِ

    When he saw my unease at his watcher’s nearness,

    like a sick man’s unease at the coming of darkness,

  32. وَرَأى لحاظي لا تَمُرُّ بِوَجهِهِ

    إِلّا اِختِلاساً خشية الرَقباءِ

    and saw my glances cross his face

    only furtively, for fear of the watchers,

  33. وَتَنفَس الصَعداءِ مني مشعراً

    بِتَوَقُد الأَشواق في الأَحشاءِ

    and my deep sighing, betraying

    the blaze of longing in my breast,

  34. وَرَأى سَوابق عبرَتي فَضاحة

    قَد قَربت سرّي إِلى الإِفشاء

    and saw my racing tears, so revealing,

    bring my secret close to disclosure,

  35. أَومى إِليَّ بِطَرفِهِ إِيماءَةً

    خَفيت لِرقتها عَن النَدماءِ

    he signaled to me with his eye, a gesture

    too subtle for the drinking companions to perceive:

  36. إِنظُر إِلى شَخصي بِها متملياً

    إِن كُنتَ تَخشى أَعيُن الجُلَساءِ

    “Gaze your fill at my image in it,

    if you fear the eyes of those sitting with us.”

  37. فَظَللت أَنظُر شَخصَهُ في مائِها

    وَيخصني بِالأُنس وَالسَرّاءِ

    So I kept gazing at his image in its water,

    while he favored me with intimacy and delight.

  38. أَشكو إِلَيهِ ما لَقيت وَيَشتَكي

    ما نالَهُ بِالوَحي وَالإِيماءِ

    I complained to him of what I had suffered, and he lamented

    what had befallen him, through hints and gestures.

  39. فَاِرتابَ مِن نَظَر الرَقيب وَقالَ لي

    ماذا تَرى في الماءِ يا مَولائي

    The watcher grew suspicious of my gazing and said to me,

    “What do you see in the water, my lord?

  40. هِب إِن أَطراق الأَديب لَنُكتة

    ماذا البُكاء وَلات حينَ بُكاءِ

    Granted that a cultivated man lowers his head for a subtle thought—

    why these tears, when this is no time for weeping?”

  41. فَأَجَبتُهُ أَني أَرى يا سَيدي

    شَمس النهار غَريقة في الماءِ

    I answered him, “I see, my master,

    the sun of day drowned in the water.

  42. وَجَرَت لِتَحديقي إِلَيها أَدمُعي

    لا إِن جَرَت لِصَبابة وَعَناءِ

    My tears flowed from staring at it,

    not from yearning and suffering.”

  43. يا رَب ما زالَ الرَقيب يَسوءَني

    فاِرم الرَقيب بِعاجل الضَرّاءِ

    O Lord, the watcher never ceases to vex me;

    strike the watcher with swift affliction!

  44. سَقياً لِأَيام الصَبابَة وَالصِبى

    وَلِمَعهد الأَلاف وَالخَلطاءِ

    May the days of yearning and youth be watered,

    and the familiar haunts of loved ones and companions!

  45. يا لَيتَ شعري ما الَّذي أَغرى الوى

    تَعست بَصَدع الشَمل وَالاقصاء

    Would that I knew what incited separation—

    may it perish!—to shatter our union and drive us apart.

  46. يا رَب قَد طالَ البُعاد فَلم تَدَع

    مِن مُهجَتي الأَشواق غَير زَماء

    O Lord, separation has lasted long, and longing has left

    of my life-blood only a last flicker.

  47. وَأملَّ سَقي عَوَّدي إِذا يَأست

    مني الطَبيب وَطبهُ أَدوائي

    My illness wearied my visitors when

    my ailments made the physician and his medicine despair of me.

  48. وَلبست مِن حُلل السقام مورّساً

    قَد رَقَّيتُهُ مُقلَتي بِدِماءِ

    Of sickness’s robes I wore a yellow-dyed one,

    which my eye had embroidered with blood [reading uncertain].

  49. وَقَسى عَلى ضُعفي زَماني عِندَما

    لانَت لبثي قسوة الأَعداءِ

    My times grew cruel to my frailty, when

    even my enemies’ hardness softened at my grief.

  50. يا رَب إِن كان الزَمان مُعانِدي

    أَبَداً بِإِقصاءٍ عَن الخَلصاءِ

    O Lord, if time will always oppose me,

    keeping me far from true companions,

  51. فائذن لِروحي بِالرواح فَإِنَّما

    هِيَ مُهجَتي قَد آذنت بِفَناءِ

    then let my spirit depart, for

    my very soul has announced its end.

  52. تَبّاً لِدَهر لَم تَزَل أَحداثُهُ

    تَجني عَلى الأَحرار وَالادباءِ

    Ruin upon an age whose misfortunes never cease

    to wrong the noble and the learned!

  53. دانَ اللئام بسيرة مَذمومة

    وَبِصُحبة زور بِغَير وَفاءِ

    The base follow a blameworthy way,

    and sham companionship, without loyalty.

  54. أَحشاؤُهُم مَحشوة بِضَغائن

    وَضُلوعَهُم تَطوى عَلَيَ الشَحناءِ

    Their innards are stuffed with grudges,

    and their ribs close around hatred.

  55. لَما بَليت بِهُم بَلَوت خِلالَهُم

    دَهراً فَحير لُؤمَهُم آرائي

    When I was afflicted with them, I tested their characters

    for an age; their baseness bewildered my judgment.

  56. وَرَأَيتُ أَدناهُم يَتيهُ بِنَقصِهِ

    لُؤماً فَتهت بِعِزَتي وَأَبائي

    I saw the lowest of them boast of his failings

    out of baseness; so I took pride in my dignity and self-respect.

  57. جايتهم وَأَنا مُقيم بَينَهُم

    وَكَتَمت أَحزاني وَعظم بَلائي

    I shunned them while dwelling in their midst,

    and hid my grief and the magnitude of my ordeal.

  58. أَو كُلَما أَثرى دَنيٌّ في الوَرى

    دانَت لَهُ لُؤماً بَنو حَوّاءِ

    And whenever a base man grows rich among mortals,

    must Eve’s children bow to him so basely?

  59. أَيقَنت أَن ذَوي المروَّة كُلَهُم

    في غُربة فَبَكيت لِلغَرباء

    I knew for certain that all those of noble character

    live in estrangement, and I wept for the strangers.

  60. وَرَأَيت أَيامي بَحرٍ واحِدٍ

    لَيسَت تَجود فَحدت بِالحَوباءِ

    I found my days, in granting a single noble man,

    ungenerous; so I turned aside with my soul.