كأني إذا أنشا وأنشد شعره

كأني إذا أنشا وأنشد شعره

لدى سمرات الحي ناقف حنظل

لدى سمرات الحي ناقف حنظل

It is as if, whenever he composes and recites his poetry,

As if when I compose and recite his poetry

I were cracking colocynth beside the tribe’s acacias.

Before the nights' conversations, standing like Al-Hanthal

ويرمي ولا يدري فؤادي ومسمعي

ويرمي ولا يدري فؤادي ومسمعي

بجلمود صخر حطه السيل من عل

بجلمود صخر حطه السيل من عل

And, without knowing it, he pelts my heart and my hearing

And it throws, though my heart and hearing know it not

with a boulder of rock swept down by the torrent from on high.

Against deaf rock where the torrent hurls it from on high