1. كفاك على وجدي دليلاً مدامعي

    لقد عبَّرَِتْ عمّا تَجُنُّ أضالِعي

    My tears are proof enough for you of my lovesick anguish.

    They have indeed voiced what my ribs conceal.

  2. كتمتُ الهوى حتى تحدَّثَ ناظري

    بألْسُنِ أَجفاني الهوامي الهوامعِ

    I concealed my love until my eye spoke

    through the tongues of my streaming, overflowing eyelids.

  3. ولو لم تَزُلْ تلكَ القِبابُ عنِ الحِمى

    لما أهملتْ عينايَ حِفظِ الودائعِ

    Had those domed tents not left the protected grounds,

    my eyes would not have neglected to guard their trusts.

  4. أيا منزلاَّ حالتْ نضارةً حسنِه

    فأضحى مَحَلاَّ بعدَها للخَوامعِ

    O dwelling, the freshness of whose beauty has faded,

    now become a haunt for hyenas after that freshness passed:

  5. عليكَ سلامٌ مِن مشوقٍ كأَنَّما

    يبيتُ على جَمْرٍ مِنَ الشوقِ لاذعٍ

    peace upon you from one longing, as though he

    spent the night on searing embers of desire.

  6. لقد كانَ قبلَ البينِ فيكَ أحبَّهٌ

    عِذابُ الثنايا كالبدورِ الطوالعِ

    Before separation, beloved ones indeed dwelt in you,

    with sweet front teeth, like rising full moons.

  7. يَميسونَ في ثِنْي البرودِ كماثنتْ

    غصونَ النقا مرُّ الرياحِ الزَّعازعِ

    They sway in folds of striped cloaks, as

    the sweep of tempestuous winds bends branches on the dunes.

  8. ولما تمادَى البينُ أصبحتُ خاضعاً

    وقد كنتُ مِن قبلِ النوى غيرَ خاضعِ

    When separation dragged on, I became submissive,

    though before parting I had been unbowed.

  9. وأمسيتُ بالطيفِ الملمِّ وقد سَرَوا

    قَنوعاً وكم صاحبتُهمْ غيرَ قانعِ

    And with the visiting dream-vision, after they had gone by night, I became

    content—yet how often I had kept their company unsatisfied!

  10. فباعدتِ الأيامُ بالكُرهِ بيننا

    على سُنَنٍ مِن فعلِها التتابعِ

    The days then forced us far apart against our will,

    following the accustomed course of their recurring deeds.

  11. فصرتُ إذا ناحَ الحمامُ على الغَضا

    أهيُم إلى نوحِ الحمامِ السواجعِ

    And now, whenever doves lament on the ghada trees,

    I yearn wildly for the cooing doves' lament.

  12. تجاوبُ مِن فوقٍ الغصونِ كأنَّما

    خُلِقنَ لها عيدانُها كالصوامعِ

    They answer one another above the branches, as though

    their boughs had been fashioned for them as hermitages.

  13. ويُقلِقني نوحُ الحمامةِ كلَّما

    تغنَّتْ على فرعٍ مِنَ البانِ يانعِ

    The dove's lament unsettles me whenever

    she sings on a flourishing bough of the ban tree.

  14. تنوحُ ولم تَفقِدْ قريناً ولا رمتْ

    يدُ الدهرِ في أُلاّفِها بالروائعِ

    She mourns, yet has lost no mate; nor has

    the hand of time cast terrors among her companions.

  15. ولا فارقتْ ظِلَّ الأراكِ ولا غدتْ

    مُحَلأَّةً عن طَيبِّاتِ المشارعِ

    Nor has she left the shade of the arak trees, nor become

    driven away from pleasant watering places.

  16. فلا يَلْحَينِّي العاذلونَ إذا هَمَتْ

    جفوني على بالي الرسومِ البلاقعِ

    So let the reproachers not blame me when

    my eyelids stream over the desolate, weathered traces.

  17. وقد حالَ ما بيني وبينَ أهيلِها

    تَعرُّضُ قفرٍ موحشِ البيدِ واسعِ

    For between me and their dear inhabitants has come

    the intervening sweep of a vast, desolate wilderness.

  18. مررتُ بها فأستوقفتني عِراصُها

    وقد أصبحتْ صَفْراً خِلاءَ المرابعِ

    I passed by them, and their open courts made me stop,

    now empty, their camping grounds deserted.

  19. فخاطبتُها بعدُ الأنيسِ واِنَّه

    خِطابٌ على علاّتهِ غيرُ نافعِ

    I addressed them after their familiar company had gone, though it was

    an address, for all its shortcomings, of no avail.

  20. سقى اللّهُ ذاكَ الرسمَ دمعي فانَّهُ

    منازلُ آرامِ الظِّباءِ الرَّواتعِ

    May God water that trace with my tears, for it is

    the haunt of white gazelles grazing freely.

  21. وحيّا ثرى تلكَ الربوعِ سحائبُ

    مِنَ الَودْقِ تُجلَى بالبروقِ اللوامعِ

    And may clouds greet the soil of those abodes,

    rain-laden, unveiled by gleaming lightning.

  22. مرابعُ غيدٍ عهدُهنَّ على الهوى

    مصونٌ وكم سِرِّلنا غيرِ ذائعِ

    The haunts of graceful women, whose pledge of love

    is kept inviolate—and how many a secret of ours remains untold!

  23. أوانسُ يجرحنَ القلوبَ إذا رَنَتْ

    لواحظُها كالمرهفاتِ القواطعِ

    Winsome women who wound hearts when they gaze,

    their sidelong glances like keen-edged, cutting blades.

  24. وِانْ سُتَرِتْ تلكَ الوجوهُ حسبتَها

    تَجُنُّ شموساً مِن وراءِ البراقعِ

    And if those faces are veiled, you would think them

    concealing suns behind the face-veils.

  25. بدائعٌ حسنٍ مذ رأينا جمالَها

    منحناهُ مِن أشعارِنا بالبدائعِ

    Wonders of beauty—since first we saw their loveliness,

    we have offered it marvels from our poetry.

  26. ولما تفرَّقنا وودعن خفية

    أنامل في حنائها كالأسارعِ

    And when we parted, and secret farewells were waved

    by fingers like little sand-worms in their henna,

  27. لقد سهرت للبعد منا نواظر

    تبرا من رؤيا العيون الهواجع

    eyes among us stayed sleepless through separation,

    knowing nothing of the dreams of slumbering eyes.

  28. ألا خبر عنهن من بعد ما برى

    صدورَ المطايا الهوج شدُّ النسائعِ

    Is there no news of them since the chafing

    of the headlong mounts' breasts by tightened girths,

  29. ومِن بعدِما أزمعنَ عن رملِ عالجٍ

    رحيلاً إلى حَزْنِ اللِّوى والأجارع

    and since they resolved to leave the sands of ʿAlij

    on a journey to the rugged ground of al-Liwa and the sandy flats?

  30. سرتْ رُقَّصاً في البيدِ وهي من الوجا

    نُجانبُ أقداحَ الحصى واليرامعِ

    They moved in dancing strides through the wastes, their feet sore;

    we avoid striking sparks from the pebbles and white stones.

  31. فما شاقهاوهي الخوامسُ منهلُ

    ولا جَنَحَتْ تبغي بحارَ اليلامعِ

    No watering place enticed them, though due their fifth-day drink;

    nor did they turn aside to seek the seas of shimmering mirage.

  32. جَزَعْنَ بهنَّ الجِزعَ تأتمُّ حاجراً

    ولا عُذْرَ لي أن لاأُرى غيرَ جازعِ

    They crossed the valley bend bearing them, heading for Hajir;

    and I have no excuse for being seen as nothing but distraught.

  33. رواقلُ بالأحبابِ في كلَّ مَجهَلٍ

    بعيدِ منالِ الخطوِأزورَ شاسعِ

    Swift-striding camels bear the beloved through every trackless waste,

    far beyond the stride's reach, winding and immense.

  34. ومَنْ لي بأنْ تأتي الأحاديثُ عنهمُ

    معطَّرةً تأوي خروقَ المسامع

    And who will ensure that tidings of them reach me,

    fragrant, lodging in the openings of my ears,

  35. تُريحُ فؤاداً لا يَقَرُّ وجيبُهُ

    على نأيهمْ إلا بِشَدِّ الأصابعِِ

    soothing a heart whose pounding will not settle

    at their distance, save beneath the pressure of fingers?

  36. ولا عهدَ لي بالنومِ إلا صبابةً

    تَرنَّقُ في جفنٍ مِنَ الشوقِ دامعِ

    I know no sleep, save a last small drop

    lingering in an eyelid tearful with longing.

  37. فنفَّرَهُ الحادونَ عنّي وأورثوا

    قوارصَ ما بيني وبينَ المضاجعِ

    The camel-drivers scared it away from me and left

    bitter pangs between me and my sleeping places.

  38. فهل ما مضى مِن سالفِ الوصلِ راجعٌ

    كما كانَ بالخَلْصاءِ أم غيرُ راجعِ

    Will what has passed of our former union return,

    as it was at al-Khalsa, or will it not return?

  39. ومَنْ شافعٌ لي أن يعودَ زمانُه

    اِذا كانَ لا يرتدُّ إلا بشافعِ

    And who will intercede for me, that its season may return,

    if it will not come back without an intercessor?

  40. لئن حَجَزَتْ دونَ اللقاءِ مفاوزٌ

    وصرَّحتِ الأيامُ لي بالموانعِ

    If wastelands bar the way to meeting,

    and the days openly confront me with obstacles,

  41. لأرتحلنَّ العيسَ بُدْناً توامِكاً

    غواربُها تحكي هِضابَ مُتالعِ

    I shall surely saddle pale camels, stout and high-backed,

    their withers resembling the hills of Mutaliʿ,

  42. الى حيث كانوا مِن بلادٍ بعيدةٍ

    بأيدٍ لها نحوَ الخليطِ نوازعِ

    to wherever they are in distant lands,

    with strength, their yearnings drawing them toward the beloved company.

  43. اِذا عَرَفَ العيسَ الكلالُ رفضنَهُ

    وسِرْنَ كأمثالِ السُّيولِ الدوافعِ

    When weariness recognizes the pale camels, they spurn it,

    and travel like surging torrents.