1. آليتُ لا حِلْتُ ولا حِلْتُمُ

    عن كلَّ ما أعهدُهُ منكمُ

    I swore that neither I nor you would turn away

    from all that I have known of you.

  2. وبالذي ارعاه مِن عهدِكمْ

    بعدَ نواكمْ يُعرَفُ المغرمُ

    And by the pledge of yours that I uphold,

    after your departure, the love-stricken man is revealed.

  3. قد كنتُ أبكي والنوى لم تَحِنْ

    بعدُ فما الحيلةُ أن بِنتمُ

    I was already weeping when parting had not come

    as yet—what remedy, now that you have gone?

  4. وكيف لا يَقلَقُ مِنْ لم يزلْ

    يُقْلِقُهُ حبُّكمُ الأقدَمُ

    And how could he not fret, who has never ceased

    to be troubled by his age-old love for you?

  5. أرتاحُ للريحِ إذا ماسرتْ

    مشمولةً تُخبِرُني عنكمُ

    I find comfort in the wind whenever it blows,

    blowing from the north, bringing me tidings of you.

  6. كأنَّها تأسو جِراحَ الهوى

    فهي لقلبي دونكمْ مرهمُ

    As though it healed the wounds of love,

    it is a balm to my heart in your absence.

  7. ما عَلِمَ الرُّكبانُ ما حلَّ بي

    في الوجدِ لو لم يَلُحِ المَعْلَمُ

    The riders would not have known what befell me

    in my longing, had the telltale sign not appeared.

  8. كتمتُه حتى إذا ما بدا

    أظهرتِ العبرةُ ما أكتمُ

    I concealed it until, when it came to light,

    a tear revealed what I was hiding.

  9. ولم تزلْ تُظهِرُ سرَّ الهوى

    منّي إذا ما زرتُها الأرسُمُ

    And they never cease to draw out love's secret

    from me whenever I visit them—the ruined traces.

  10. أسألُها عن أهلِها ضَلَّةً

    كأنّها تسمعُ أو تَفْهَمُ

    I ask them about their people, in folly,

    as though they could hear or understand.

  11. وربَّما أعربَ عن كلَّ ما

    يزيدُ وجدي ربعُها الأعجَمُ

    And sometimes it gives voice to all that

    heightens my longing—their mute dwelling-site.

  12. منازلٌ قد صِرْتُ أبكي لها

    مِن بعدِ ما كنتُ بها أَبسِمُ

    Dwellings I have come to weep for,

    after once smiling in them,

  13. بادمعٍ مِن بعدِ أهلِ الهوى

    على ثرى أطلالِهم تَسْجُمُ

    with tears, since the loved ones departed,

    that stream onto the soil of their ruins.

  14. اِنْ أعوزَ الغيثُ وان أنجمَتْ

    سحائبُ الرَّىَّ انبرتْ تَثجِمُ

    If rain fails, and if they cease raining—

    the nourishing clouds—my tears spring forth in torrents.

  15. والدهرُ حالانِفطوراً له

    بؤسي وطوراً بعدها أنعُمُ

    And time has two states: at times it brings

    misery, then, at other times, blessings.

  16. فلا تَضيقَنَّ بأفعالِه

    فربَّما هانَ الذي يَعظُمُ

    So never be distressed by its deeds,

    for what looms great may yet become slight.

  17. أحبابَنا لا تَرِدوا أدمعي

    فاِنَّها بعدَ نواكُمْ دَمُ

    Our beloved ones, do not come to drink my tears,

    for after your departure they are blood.

  18. بَعُدْتُمُ فالدهرُ في ناظري

    بغيرِ أنوارِكمُ مُظلِمُ

    You are far away, and time, in my sight,

    is dark without your lights.

  19. وعيشتي البيضاءُ بعدَ النوى

    كدَّرها هجركُمُ الأدهَمُ

    And my once-white life, after parting,

    your black desertion has clouded.

  20. لولا دموعي يومَ توديعكمْ

    لم تكُ أسرارُ الهوى تُعلَمُ

    Were it not for my tears on the day I bade you farewell,

    love's secrets would not have been known.

  21. أأشتكيكمْ أم إلى جورِكمْ

    أشكو الذي قد حلَّ بي منكمُ

    Should I complain of you, or to your cruelty

    complain of what I have suffered at your hands?

  22. ولا أرى في مذهبي أَنَّهٌ

    يُنصِفُني مَنْ لم يزلْ يَظلِمُ

    Nor do I believe, in my view, that

    one who has never ceased doing wrong will do me justice.

  23. شِنْشنَةٌ صارتْ له مذهباً

    وهو لها دونَ الورى أخزَمُ

    A disposition that has become his way,

    and in it, he alone among mankind is Akhzam.

  24. أحبَّةٌ لو قيلَماذا الذي

    نختارُه ما قلتُإلا همُ

    Beloved ones—if asked, 'What is it that

    we choose?' I would say only, 'Them.'

  25. هم أسلموني لاِسارِ الهوى

    ظلماً وظنُّوا أنَّني أسلمُ

    They surrendered me to love's captivity,

    unjustly, and thought that I would escape unharmed.

  26. قلبي على ما نالَهُ منهمُ

    لا يعرفُ البثَّ ولا يسأمُ

    My heart, despite what it has suffered from them,

    knows no lament and does not weary.

  27. اِنْ أنجدوا أو أتهموا لم يزلْ

    وهو المَرُوعُ المنجِدُ المتهِمُ

    Whether they go to Najd or Tihamah, it is always

    the frightened traveler to Najd and Tihamah.

  28. وناظرٍ لم يَغْفُ خوفَ النوى

    والبينِ لمّا هجعَ النوَّمُ

    And an eye that never dozed, fearing distance

    and parting, when the sleepers slept.

  29. جيرانَنا ها أنا باقٍ على

    عهدي فهل أنتمْ كما كنتمُ

    Our neighbors, behold, I still hold to

    my pledge; are you as you once were?

  30. ما غيَّرَ الدهرُ لنا وجهُهُ

    عنِ الرَّضى حتى تغيَّرتُمُ

    Time's face toward us never turned

    away from favor until you changed.

  31. وفَيْتُ لمّا خانَ أهلُ الهوى

    ولم أقلْإِنكمُ خنتُمُ

    I kept faith when lovers proved faithless,

    and did not say that you had betrayed.

  32. كنايةٌ في طيَّها كلُّ ما

    يُوهنُني منكمْ وما يؤلمُ

    A veiled allusion, holding within it all that

    weakens me at your hands, and all that hurts.

  33. فليتكمْ لمّا سرتْ عيسُكمْ

    عن أبْرَقِ الحنّانِ ودَّعتُمُ

    If only, when your pale camels set out,

    from Abraq al-Hannan, you had said farewell.

  34. آهاً على طيبِ ليالي الغَضا

    لو أنَّها عادَتْ ولو عُدْتُمُ

    Ah, for the sweetness of the nights of al-Ghada!

    If only they returned, and if only you returned!

  35. غبتمْ فما لذَّ لنا عيشُنا

    ولا استُحِثَّ الكاسُ مذ غِبتُمُ

    You vanished, and our life no longer pleased us,

    nor has the cup been hastened round since you left.

  36. فالغيثُ والمنثورُ هذا أسًى

    للبينِ يبكيكمْ وذا يَلطِمُ

    So the rain and stockflowers—this one, in sorrow,

    weeps for you at parting; that one beats its cheeks.

  37. وأصفرُ الزهرِ ومبيضُّهُ

    هذاكَ دينارٌ وذا درهمُ

    And the yellow flowers and their white ones:

    that one a dinar, and this one a dirham.

  38. والروضُ مخضلٌّ بقطرِ الندى

    فالطيبُ مِن أرجائهِ يَفْغَمُ

    And the meadow is wet with drops of dew,

    so fragrance from its reaches fills the nostrils.

  39. وللهوى في كبدي جذوةٌ

    تبيتُ مِن خوفِ النوى تُضرَمُ

    And love has an ember in my liver,

    that stays kindled through the night for fear of parting.

  40. فهل أرى حيَّهمُ باللَّوى

    يُدنيهِ منّي البازلُ المُكْدَمُ

    Shall I see their encampment at al-Lawa,

    drawn near to me by the mature, bite-scarred camel?

  41. كأنَّه في هَبَواتِ السُّرى

    يُثيرُهنَّ الخاضِبُ الأصلَمُ

    As though, in the night-journey's dust clouds

    it stirs, it were a red-shanked, earless ostrich.

  42. كم رُفِعَتْ أخفافهُ عنْ دَمٍ

    كأنَّه في اِثرِه عَنْدَمُ

    How often its padded feet have lifted from blood,

    as though it were red dye in its tracks.

  43. ترتاعُ للصوتِ واِرهابِه

    كأنَّما في ثِنيهِ أرقمُ

    It startles at the sound and its menace,

    as though a speckled serpent lurked in its fold.

  44. يا أيُّها النظمُ نداءَ امرئٍ

    يَشغَفُهُ مذهبُكَ الأقومُ

    O verse, hear the call of a man

    whom your most upright path enthralls.

  45. تَعُبُّ كالسيلِ على خاطرٍ

    طمى عليه بحرُكَ المُفْعَمُ

    You surge like a torrent upon a mind

    over which your brimming sea has risen.

  46. أُثني بما فيكَ على رُتْبَةٍ

    لم يُعْطَها عادٌ ولا جُرْهُمُ

    I extol, through what you contain, a rank

    that neither 'Ad nor Jurhum was granted.

  47. لو كنتَ في عصرِ رجالٍ مَضَوا

    صَلَّوا على لفظكَ او سَلَّموا

    Had you been in the age of men long gone,

    they would have invoked blessings on your words, or saluted them.