دور لعبلة أقفرت أطلالها

واستعجمت بعد الأنيس ومالها

Dwellings of 'Abla, whose ruins have become deserted,

And fallen silent after their familiar inhabitants and possessions departed.

وتوالفت فيها الوحوش نعاجها

وعباؤها ونعامها وغزالها

Wild beasts grew familiar together there—their wild ewes,

And their deer [uncertain reading], their ostriches, and their gazelles.

وتعاورت بربوعها مزن السما

توكافا وغزيرها هطّالها

The sky's rain clouds visited their quarters by turns,

Dripping steadily, their abundant rain pouring in torrents.

وتعاقبت برسومها بعد الأنيـ

ـس الرامسات جنوبها وشمالها

And over their traces followed in succession, after the compan-

-ion, the effacing winds, their southerlies and northerlies.

دور عهدت بها عروبا بستبي

قلب الحليم حديثها ونبالها

Dwellings where I once knew a loving woman, captivating

The forbearing man's heart with her speech and her arrows.

تسقي بنظر عيونها سقما كما

يسقى الخلائق قطبها وتفالها

She makes one drink sickness through her eyes' gaze, just as

All creation is given drink, its chief and its lowly folk [uncertain reading],

ماء العيون وما العيون وما السما

تاج المعارف والعلوم سجالها

By Ma' al-'Uyun, 'Water of the Springs'—what are springs, and what is the sky?

The crown of knowledge and the sciences, their brimming water-buckets.

قطب بنى للجود بنيانا إذا

تجد البريّة بذلها عيالها

A spiritual Pole who built an edifice for generosity; then

You find all creation dependent upon its bounty.

وترى الوفود على الوفود ببابه

صبيانها ونساؤها ورجالها

And you see delegations upon delegations at his door,

Their boys, their women, and their men.

وتراه يعطي للاباعد إبله

فصلانها ونياقها وجمالها

And you see him give his camels to outsiders,

Their weaned calves, their she-camels, and their male camels.

وترى الأرامل عاكفين إزاءه

قسما لهو يمنيها وشمالها

And you see widows remaining before him;

I swear, he is their right hand and their left.

والشمس إن ظرت إلى أنواره

قد أطرقت خجلات وقلّ جمالها

And if the sun looks upon his lights,

It bows its head in shame, and its beauty diminishes.

قطب تقاصرت البريّة دونه

وتقاصرت أقوالها وفعالها

A spiritual Pole before whom all creation falls short,

And short fall their words and their deeds.

وترى البلاد لنأيه عنها تحـ

ـنّ عليه شوقا سهلها وحبالها

And you see the lands, because he is far from them, yearn-

-ing for him in longing, their plains and their mountains.

وعلى الرسول وآله وصحابه

أزكى الصلاة مع السلام كمالها

And upon the Messenger, his family, and his companions,

The purest blessings, together with peace to complete them.