بنفسي رسوم بين نفعي وغرب

وتلوح بعيني كالرداء المذهب

With my own soul I would ransom the traces between Nafʿi and Gharb,

which gleam before my eyes like a gilded cloak.

محت آيها الأرواح وابتكرت بها

بواكر سحب الأتي المسحب

The winds effaced their signs, and early upon them came

the first clouds of the oncoming, trailing flood.

وجرت بها الحزوى ذيولاً من البلى

تعاقب فيها كل أسجم صيب

Al-Hazwa [unclear referent] dragged hems of decay across them,

as every copiously pouring raincloud passed in succession.

إلى أن غدت حتى لو ارتدت ناظر

إلى آية من آيها لم يصوب

Until they became so faded that, were a gaze to turn back,

toward one of their signs, it would not find its mark.

عفت غير آري وكاب ومفهر

شحيح وآضاء ونوء معثلب

They were effaced, save a tethering stake, a kab [unclear], and a grindstone,

a meagre remnant, pools, and a battered ditch [uncertain reading].

ومصفن أفراس ومبرك هجمة

وشاوٍ داودي وناد وملعب

And a standing-place for horses, a resting-ground for a camel herd,

a Davidic roaster [uncertain], a gathering-place, and a playground.

وقفنا نحييها تحيات ولهٍ

نصعد أنفاساً بأكوار لعب

We stood greeting them with a lovesick man's salutations,

sending sighs upward from the saddles of frisky mounts.

ونستمطر الأجفان ماء كأنه

لأطلالها ملقى سماك وعقرب

We begged our eyelids to rain water, as though it were

rain cast by Simak and Scorpio upon their ruins.

متى ما محونا بالدموع سطورها

بأخفافها في كاغد الربع يكتب

Whenever we erased their lines with tears,

with their hooves the campsite's paper was written upon.

ومهما تعطفنا بإنسان مقلة

أقدت ضلوعاً بالحنين المطرب

And whenever we turned toward them with the pupil of an eye,

they kindled our ribs with transporting yearning.

وأما ركعنا ذعنا فهي سجد

وإن نقتصر من صالح الذكر تطنب

When we bowed in submission, they lay prostrate;

and if we kept our kindly remembrance brief, they prolonged it.

لئن ذكرت منها رواحاً ومغتدى

ومسرحها في ظل أحوى مذنب

If I recall their evening departures and morning outings,

and their grazing-ground beneath a dark-green, trailing shade,

وشك الغضى والعرفدي أنوفها

وماء بها للورد غير مطحلب

and the ghada and ʿarfadi shrubs pricking their noses,

and water there for drinking, free of algae,

لأذكر فتيان الشباب الذي مضى

ورغدة عيش بالجمومين طيب

I surely recall the young men of that bygone youth,

and the ease of a pleasant life at al-Jumumayn,

بحيث عذاري كان أسود حالكاً

وغصني رطيب مورق غير أشب

where my cheek-beard was black as pitch,

and my branch was fresh and leafy, not tangled.

أروح أجر الذيل كل عشية

وأسحب بردي بين خشف وربرب

Each evening I went out, trailing my hem,

and dragged my cloak among a fawn and a gazelle herd.

وأغدو غداة الدجن الهوى مغازلاً

ربيبة خدر في الخباء المطنب

At dawn, in the clouded gloom of passion, I set out to woo

a maiden reared in seclusion, within a guy-roped tent.

متى تسقني راحاً من الراح قانياً

تعل بظلم أبيض اللون أشنب

Whenever she pours me a deep-red draught of wine,

she gives a second draught of white, cool-sweet mouth-dew.

وتسدل ليلاً تحته البدر مشرقاً

على خوط بان فوق دعص مكثب

She lets fall a night, beneath which the full moon shines,

upon a ban-tree bough above a piled-up dune.

تقول وقد نضت قناعاً وشوذراً

وجادت بدمع العاشق المتعتب

She speaks, having removed a veil and an outer wrap,

and freely shed the tears of an aggrieved lover.

فيا حسنها إذ يغسل الدمع كحلها

وقد مسحته بالبنان المخضب

How lovely she is, as tears wash away her kohl,

which she has wiped with henna-stained fingertips!

أراك حبيب النفس أمس قنلتني

وأنت تراعيني بأذناب طحلب

“I see you, beloved of my soul—you slew me yesterday,

while watching me with pondweed's trailing tips.”

إلى اللَه منها كيف شاءت تقلبت

على كل حال بالهوى المتقلب

To God I appeal against her: she changes as she pleases,

in every state, with ever-changing passion.

أسرت عتابي حيث أبدت عتابها

كما أظهرت قتلي بها وهو بي غبي

She concealed my reproach when she revealed her own,

just as she revealed my being slain by her, though it was hidden within me.

أعلوة لا تدين أنة عاشق

وتخفين سلوان الحبيب المؤنب

O ʿAlwa, you pay no heed to a lover's moan,

and conceal the solace of the reproached beloved.

سرئر دائي فيك غير خفية

فهل فيك من حبي كما منك حل بي

The secrets of my sickness for you are not hidden;

is there in you some of my love, as love from you has settled in me?

فبيشاهد من حبك اليوم عاذل

نحولي وولوالي ودمعي ومذهبي

A witness to my love for you is in me today, O reprover:

my wasting, my wailing, my tears, and my way of life.

إذا هوم الخالي تأوبني الجوى

فاعقد طرفي في سما كل كوكب

When the carefree man dozes, burning lovesickness returns to me,

and I fix my gaze on the sky, upon every star.

تبيتين يا عليا مبيت عواذلي

بطرف متى يقطب له النوم يشرب

You spend the night, O ʿAlya, as my reprovers do,

with an eye that drinks whenever sleep frowns at it.

ولم تذكري عهداً عهدناه بالحمى

وعصراً قضيناه بجزع المحصب

You did not remember a pledge we made in the protected pasture,

nor a time we spent at the valley-bend of al-Muhassab,

وحبّاً جرى مجرى دمي منك بعدما

علقت به قلبي لييلات غرب

nor a love from you that flowed like my blood, after

I bound my heart to it during those few nights at Gharb.

فإن تصليني ترزقي شكر معشري

وإن تقتليني يا علية تطلبي

If you grant me union, you will receive my people's thanks;

and if you kill me, O ʿAliyya, you will be pursued.

ألم تعلمي أني أخو خنزوانةٍ

تذل لها نفس الفصيصي ويشجب

Did you not know that I possess a fierce pride,

before which the spirit of al-Fusaysi and Yashjub bows down?

ورب قوافٍ بين مدح ممجد

وبين نسيب كالمزاهير مطرب

How many rhymes I have made, now in ennobling praise,

now in love poetry, enchanting like lutes!

شوارد مثل الشمس في كل بقعةٍ

أو الخضر لم يفقد بشرق ومغرب

Far-wandering, like the sun in every place,

or al-Khidr, never absent from east or west.

وخير قوافٍ ما غدت تنثر الثنا

حوال هواديها بشكر على النبي

The finest rhymes are those that go scattering praise

around their leading ranks, in gratitude to the Prophet.

وأفضل تأبين بمدح على الذي

توطن حيّاً ثم ميتاً بيثرب

The noblest eulogy is praise of him

who made his home in Yathrib, alive and then dead;

ومن نطقت توارة موسى بفضله

وإنجيل عيسى في الكتاب المكثب

and him whose excellence Moses' Torah proclaimed,

and Jesus' Gospel, in the compiled scripture;

ومن هو حياه البعير تحية

بأمثالها حياه بين الملا الظبي

and him whom the camel greeted with a salutation,

the like of which the gazelle gave him before the assembly;

ومن قد جرى الماء المعين بكفه

متى تأته الصادون في الفر تشرب

and him from whose palm clear running water flowed,

so that whenever the thirsty came to him in flight, they drank.

فضائل عد الرمل دون عدادها

وما أحد منها وإن كثرت غبي

Virtues whose tally exceeds the number of grains of sand;

not one of them, however many, is obscure.

فسبحان من أسرى به بعد هجعةٍ

من البيت للبيت العلي المقرب

Glory be to Him who carried him by night, after a spell of sleep,

from the House to the lofty, favored House!

فأكرم بها من ليلة إذ سرى بها

فنال بها ما لم ينل مثله نبي

How noble a night it was, when he journeyed through it,

and attained what no prophet had attained the like of!

فكم محفل أسرى له كل محفل

ومضرب أملاك على قطر مضرب

How many assemblies he reached by night, gathering upon gathering,

and angels' encampments across stretch after stretch of camp!

تحييه تسليماً ملائكة السما

وأخرى تلاقيه بأهل ومرحب

The angels of heaven greet him with salutations,

and others meet him with warm words of welcome.

وفاز ببرهان النبوة وانثنى

إلى البيت والديجور ليس بأشيب

He gained the proof of prophethood and returned

to the House while the deep darkness had not turned gray.

وعطرت القطران من فيح نشره

وعم شذاه كل نادٍ وسبسب

The two regions [uncertain reading] were perfumed by his wafting scent,

and his perfume pervaded every gathering-place and open plain.

محمد خير المرسلين أخيرها

وأولها في الفضل من حسن منصب

Muhammad, best of the messengers, the last of them,

and first of them in excellence through his noble station.

أمولاي بل مولى البرية كلها

أغاية مأمولي أسؤلي أمطلبي

O my master—rather, master of all creation,

O goal of my hopes, O my petition, O my desire!

لقد ساقني حسن الرجاء وقادني

إلى بابك المصمود حبي ومذهبي

Fair hope has drawn me, and I have been led

to your sought-out door by my love and my chosen way.

وقد كسرت ضبني ذنوب عظيمة

فشأنك في ضيف ببابك مذنب

Grievous sins have broken my flank,

so attend to a sinful guest at your door.

وما أنا إلا في رجاك مؤمل

فلا ترجعني بالرجاء المخيب

I am but one who places his hope in you;

do not send me back with hope disappointed.

أجرني فإني مستجير بقربكم

فقل في امرئٍ جانٍ بكم متقرب

Give me refuge, for I seek shelter in your nearness;

then speak of a sinful man who seeks nearness through you.

فهب لي غفراناً وكن لي شافعاً

أغثني بغيث من نوالك صيب

Grant me forgiveness and be my intercessor;

come to my aid with a pouring rain of your bounty.

عليك صلاة اللَه ما ذر شارق

وما كوكب يبدو على إثر كوكب

May God's blessing be upon you as long as the sun rises,

and a star appears in the wake of another star.

تخصك بل عمت ضجيعيك بالثنا

وآلك ما خبت قلاص بسبسب

It singles you out—yet its praise embraces the two who lie beside you,

and your family, as long as young she-camels trot across the waste.