1. رضيتُ برِبقَةِ العُشَّاق حَبْسا

    غداةُ غدا عليَّ الوجدُ حُبْسا

    I accepted captivity in the lovers' tether,

    The morning longing became my prison.

  2. ومذْ ملكً الغرامُ عِنانَ قلبي

    مغالبةً أطعتُ وطِبتُ نَفْسا

    And since passion seized my heart's reins

    By force, I obeyed, content at heart.

  3. فكم واقفتُ جيشُ الحبَّ حتى

    سئمتُ كفاحَه صُبحاً ومُيْسى

    How often I confronted love's army, until

    I wearied of battling it, morning and evening.

  4. فمَنْ خالَ الهوى سهلاً فدعْهُ

    لقد ترِبَتْ يداه وخابَ حَدْسا

    Whoever thinks love easy—leave him be:

    His hands are dust-soiled indeed, and his judgment has failed.

  5. أعادَ قوىَّ بأسي فيهِ لمّا

    جنحتُ إلى الهوى العُذرىِّ نِكْسا

    It turned my mighty courage—when

    I inclined toward chaste love—into a weakling.

  6. وعايَنْتُ القدودَ الهيفِ زَهْواً

    تَمايلُ والشفاهَ لثمتُ لُعْسا

    And I beheld slender-waisted figures proudly

    Swaying, and kissed dusky lips.

  7. وسفْتُ عبيرَ أثوابِ الغواني

    ومِن لَعِبِ الحُليِّ سَمِعتُ جَرْسا

    And I inhaled the perfume of the lovely women's robes,

    And heard a jingling from their ornaments' play.

  8. ففلَّلَ عزمَتي فيه وصبرى

    وأمسى الجسمُ بالاْسقامِ يُكْسى

    So it blunted my resolve in it, and my patience,

    And my body came to be clothed in illnesses.

  9. وقد زعموا بأنَّ البينَ يُنْسي

    وَمنْ عَرَفَ الوِصالَ فكيف يَنسى

    They have claimed that separation makes one forget,

    Yet how can one who has known union forget?

  10. تُرى هل تَرجِعُ الاْيامُ تُدني

    مزاراً كنتُ آنسُ فيهِ أُنسا

    I wonder: will the days return and bring near

    A place I visited, where I once found comfort?

  11. وتدنو الدارُ مِنْ أسماءَ حتى

    يعودَ ترابُها للقُرْبِ قُدْسا

    And will the dwelling draw close to Asma, until

    Its dust becomes sacred through that nearness?

  12. وأنظرُ لي وللواشينَ فيها

    برعمٍ منهمُ حُزناً وعُرسْا

    And shall I see, for myself and the slanderers there,

    To their chagrin, sorrow and a wedding feast?

  13. ولو أن الوِصالَ بفضلِ عَزْمٍ

    جلبتُ مساعرَ الأبطالِ حُمسْا

    Were union won through superior resolve,

    I would muster fierce, battle-kindling champions:

  14. أسوداً غيلُها المُرَّانُ سُمراً

    تُظِلهمُ إلى الهيجاءِ مُلْسا

    Lions whose thickets are tawny lance-shafts,

    Smooth shafts shading them on the way to battle;

  15. على الخيلِ العتاقِ القُبِّ شوساً

    تُقِلُّهمُ وكانتْ قبلُ شُمْسا

    Fierce-eyed, upon noble, lean-bellied horses

    That carry them, though once they were unruly.

  16. فهم يبنونَ والجردَ المذاكي

    اِذا رمتُّ العلاءَ اليه أُسّا

    For they, with the sleek, full-grown steeds, build,

    Whenever I seek high honor, a foundation leading to it.

  17. أُذِلُّ بها أعرَّةَ كلَِّ حيِّ

    واِنْ كَرُموا محاربَةُ وجِنْسا

    With them I humble the mighty men of every tribe,

    However noble they may be in warfare and lineage.

  18. خليليَّ اتركاني والمهارىَ

    مزمَّمةً إذا ما الليلُ أغسى

    My two friends, leave me with the Mahri camels,

    Haltered, when the night grows dark.

  19. متى رأتِ البروقَ بروقَ حُزْوَى

    تَحِنُّ فلن تَعُبَّ ولن تَلُسّا

    Whenever they see lightning—the lightning of Huzwa—

    They yearn, and will neither drink deeply nor graze.

  20. ولولا الوجدُ ما جبتُ الفيافي

    ولاأعملتُ في البيداءِ عَنْسا

    But for longing, I would not have crossed the wastes,

    Nor driven a sturdy she-camel through the desert.

  21. اِذا حنَّتْ إلى أَثَلاثِ نجدٍ

    حسبتَ بها مِنَ الاِغذاذِ مَسّا

    When she yearns for the tamarisks of Najd,

    You would think her possessed, from her headlong haste.

  22. تَزُرُّ على العلنداةِ الدياجي

    كأنْ تِخذَتْ مِنَ الظلماءِ حِلْسا

    The night's darkness buttons itself about the sturdy she-camel,

    As though she had taken darkness for a saddlecloth.

  23. أزورُ بها الاْحبَّةَ حيثُ كانوا

    يسابقُ وخدُها العَوْدَ الدِّرَفْسا

    On her I visit my loved ones, wherever they may be;

    Her swift stride races the massive, mature male camel.

  24. يَطيرُ لغامُها في القاعِ حتى

    كأنَّ على متونِ البيدِ بُرْسا

    Her mouth-froth flies over the plain, until

    It seems that cotton lies on the backs of the deserts.

  25. ولا كانتْ نياقي في الموامي

    سطوراً والخروقُ لهنَّ طَرْسا

    And were my she-camels in the wastes

    Lines of writing, with the open tracts their parchment,

  26. اِذا رفعتْ منا سمَها رأينا

    سطوراً ما نَرى فيهنَّ نِفْسا

    When they lifted their hoof-pads, we would see

    Lines in which no ink could be seen.

  27. أحارِعَهِدْتُ ودَّكَ لي سليماً

    مِنَ الاكْدارِ طابَ جنىً وغَرسْا

    O Har, I knew your affection for me to be sound,

    Free of taint, sweet in fruit and planting.

  28. تُراكَ علمتَ ما عندي يقيناً

    مِنَ الأشواقِ لا ظنّاً وهَجْسا

    I wonder: have you known for certain what I bear

    Of longing—not through conjecture and surmise?

  29. ولوعاينتَني لحسبتَ أنّي

    لدى العُوّاد مَيتْاً حلَّ رَمْسا

    And if you saw me, you would surely think that I,

    Before my sickbed visitors, was dead and lodged in a grave,

  30. طريحاً لا أجيبُ إذا دعوني

    صموتاً لا أكادُ اُحيرُ نَبْسا

    Prostrate, not answering when they call me,

    Utterly silent, scarcely able to return a word.

  31. أؤمِّلُ في ظلامِ الليلِ بدراً

    يزورُ وفي ضياءِ اليومِ شَمْسا

    In the darkness of night I hope for a full moon

    To visit, and in the radiance of day, a sun.