أَتعرِفُ أم لارَسمَ دارٍ مُعَطَّلا

أَتعرِفُ أم لارَسمَ دارٍ مُعَطَّلا

من العام يمحاهُ ومن عام أَوَّلا

من العام يمحاهُ ومن عام أَوَّلا

Do you recognize—or not—the deserted trace of a dwelling,

Do you know a house abandoned

effaced this year and in the year before

Erased by years, forgotten by time?

قطارٌ وتاراتٍ خَريقٌ كأنَّها

قطارٌ وتاراتٍ خَريقٌ كأنَّها

مُضِلَّةُ بَوٍّ رَعيلٍ تَعَجَّلا

مُضِلَّةُ بَوٍّ رَعيلٍ تَعَجَّلا

by rain, and at times by a fierce wind, as though it were

A train of lyrics like the wailing

a she-camel missing her dummy calf, whose herd had hastened on?

Of a caravan hurrying through the dunes

ولو أنكرت ضَيماً حنيفةُ حَلَّقَت

ولو أنكرت ضَيماً حنيفةُ حَلَّقَت

بها المُغرِبُ العَنقاءُ حَولاً مُكَمَّلا

بها المُغرِبُ العَنقاءُ حَولاً مُكَمَّلا

And had Ḥanīfa refused humiliation, she would have been borne aloft

If only Haneefa denied her plight

by the far-flying ʿAnqāʾ for a whole year.

The curving West would circle her completely

وفي الصَّحصَحِيّينَ الذينَ تَرَحَّلُوا

وفي الصَّحصَحِيّينَ الذينَ تَرَحَّلُوا

كواعبُ مِن بَكرٍ تُسامُ وتُحبَلا

كواعبُ مِن بَكرٍ تُسامُ وتُحبَلا

And among the Ṣaḥṣaḥīs who departed

Among the nomads who wandered

were full-breasted maidens of Bakr, offered for sale and made pregnant.

Fair maidens wed and bedded forcefully

أُخِذنَ اغتصاباً خِطبَةً عَجرَفِيَّةً

أُخِذنَ اغتصاباً خِطبَةً عَجرَفِيَّةً

وأُمهِرنَ أرماحاً من الخطِّ ذُبَّلا

وأُمهِرنَ أرماحاً من الخطِّ ذُبَّلا

They were taken by force, in a brutal courtship,

Snatched aggressively, married arrogantly

and given slender spears from al-Khaṭṭ as dowries.

And dowried with spears, tips bloodied cruelly