1. دمعٌ على عرصاتِ الربيعِ مسكوبُ

    ومغرمٌ قلبُه في الركبِ محجوبُ

    Tears are spilled upon the open grounds of spring,

    and a lovesick one's heart is hidden in the caravan.

  2. ودَّعتُهُ عندَما بنتمْ فأضحكَني

    مقالُه مَلَقاًذا البعدُ تعذيبُ

    I bade it farewell when you departed; I was made to laugh

    by its flattering words: 'This separation is torment.'

  3. أحبابنا بنتمُ عنّي ورافقَكُمْ

    قلبي فها هو في الأظعانِ مجنوبُ

    Our beloveds, you left me, and with you went

    my heart—there it is, led alongside the departing litters.

  4. تكادُ تَحرِقُنينيرانُ ذِكْرِكُمْ

    وللحمامةِ في الأغصانِ تطريبُ

    The fires of remembering you almost burn me,

    and the dove sings melodiously among the branches.

  5. كأنَّ ذكَركُمُ وقفٌ عليَّ فلي

    دمعٌ بأشطانِ هذا البينِ مجلوبُ

    As though remembrance of you were reserved for me alone, I have

    tears drawn forth by the ropes of this separation.

  6. أمسيتُ أشعبَ في اِيثارِ وصلِكُمُ

    وواعدُ الوصلِ منكمْ وهو عُرقُوبُ

    I have become Ash'ab in preferring union with you,

    and the one among you promising union is 'Urqub.

  7. يا ريمَ رامةَ بي شوقٌ يُهيِّجُهُ

    ذِكرى قديمِكَ والاِحسانُ محسوبُِ

    O gazelle of Rama, a longing within me is stirred

    by memories of your past—and kindness is duly reckoned.

  8. هل بعدَ بُعْدِكَ مِن شيءٍ أراعُ به

    هذا وحبُّكَ قبلَ اليومِ محسوبُ

    After your departure, is there anything left to frighten me?

    This, though your love was reckoned with before today.

  9. قد كنتُ أخشاه والأذهانُ صائبُها

    يُريكَ بالوهمِ شيئاً وهو محجوبُ

    I had feared it; the truest of minds

    shows you through imagining something still concealed.

  10. أين الظباءُ التي قد كانَ شادِنُها

    يروقُني منه اِحفاءُ وترحيبُ

    Where are the gazelles whose fawn once

    delighted me with his solicitude and welcome?

  11. بانوا وبانَ فلي مِن بعدِ بينهمُ

    سِنٌّ يعيدُ بناني وهو مخضوبُ

    They departed, and he departed; since their parting I have

    a tooth that keeps sending back my fingertips stained,

  12. شوقاً ولا يوسفٌ في كلِّ مرحلةٍ

    كلاّ ولا كلُّ بيتٍ فيه يعقوبُ

    from longing—yet there is no Joseph at every waystation;

    no, nor is there a Jacob in every house.

  13. أبكي فتوهُمني الآمالُ عن جَلَدي

    صبراً وعهدي بصبري وهو مغلوبُ

    I weep, and hopes delude me about my endurance,

    offering patience—though I know my patience is vanquished.

  14. خِداعُ ظنِّ ولولاهُ لما بلغتْ

    منا العيونُ مُناها والحَواجيبُ

    A delusion of fancy—without it, they would never have won

    their desires from us, those eyes and brows.

  15. يا حارِ مالي وما للبرقِ يُقلِقُني

    كأنَّه بلظى الهجرانِ مشبوبُ

    O Har, what ails me, and why does the lightning trouble me?

    As though it were kindled by the blaze of estrangement.

  16. وماءُ مزنتهِ لم يَهْمِ مُنبجِساً

    إِلاّ انثنى بدموعي وهو مقطوبُ

    The water of its raincloud never gushes down

    without returning mingled with my tears.

  17. للبرقِ فيها ابتسامٌ لا يُزايلُها

    ولي عقيبَ النوى في الدارِ تقطيبُ

    In that cloud, lightning has a smile that never leaves it,

    and I, after parting, have a frown in the dwelling.

  18. أرى الديارَِفتَصبيني وأُنِكرُها

    حتى يُذَكِّرَني عِرفانَها الطيبُ

    I see the dwellings; they stir my yearning, yet I do not recognize them,

    until their fragrance awakens my recognition of them.

  19. مرابعاً كنَّ أجساماً زمانَ بها

    كنّا وأرواحُها البيضُ الرعابيبُ

    Encampments that were bodies in the days when there

    we lived, their souls the fair, delicate beauties.

  20. واليومَ غيرَّها صرفُ الزمانِ وفي

    تقلُّبِ الدهرِ للرائي أعاجيبُ

    Today time's vicissitudes have changed them, and in

    the turns of fate there are marvels for the beholder.

  21. والوصلُ أن سمحَ الدهرُ الضنينُ به

    فذاكَ مِن فلتاتِ الحظِّ موهوبُ

    And union, if grudging time permits it,

    is a gift from one of fortune's rare lapses.

  22. أبغي الوصالَ ومِن دوني ودونهمُ

    بيدٌ تَكِلُّ بها البُزْلُ المصاعيبُ

    I seek reunion, while between me and them

    lie deserts that weary even mature, unruly camels.

  23. في كلِّ يومٍ لنجبي وهي ساهِمَةٌ

    الى الحبائبِ تشريقٌ وتغريبُ

    Each day my noble camels, gaunt as they are,

    travel east and west toward the beloveds.

  24. تمحو منا سِمُها سطراً وتُثْبِتُه

    نحوَ الدِّيارِ فممحوٌّ ومكتوبُ

    Their hoof-pads erase a line and inscribe it

    toward the dwellings—now erased, now written.

  25. سارتْ ولم تشكُ في الموماةِ من لَغَبٍ

    أنَّى وقد قُرِعَتْ منها الظنابيبُ

    They traveled without complaining of fatigue in the wilderness;

    how could they, when their shinbones had been struck?

  26. تَفري جلابيبَ ليلٍ ليس تُنِكرَه

    بنا وما فوقَها إلا الجلابيبُ

    They rend the cloaks of a night they do not find strange,

    bearing us, with nothing above them but cloaks.

  27. في مهمهٍ كغِرارِ السيفِ مُنصِلتِ

    أجوبهُ بالمطايا وهو مرهوبُ

    In a wasteland like the edge of an unsheathed sword,

    I cross it on my mounts, though it is dreaded.

  28. مِنَ الحُداةِ ومِن شِعرى لها ولنا

    حدْوٌ يُعلِّلُها وَهْناً وتشبيبُ

    From the camel-drivers and my verse, for them and for us,

    come chants to soothe them late at night, and songs of love.

  29. سقى المنازلَ شؤبوبُ الغمامِ فِانْ

    ضَنَّ الغمامُ فمِن دمعي شآبيبُ

    May a downpour from the clouds water the dwellings; and if

    the clouds withhold, then from my tears come downpours.

  30. يَهمي وأنشِدُ شِعراً رقَّ مِن وَلَهٍ

    نسيبُه فهو في الأشعارِ منسوبُ

    My tears pour as I recite a poem made tender by longing

    in its love prelude—a poem of noble lineage among poems.

  31. شعراً متى طلَّقَ الأشعارَ خاطِبُها

    رأيتَهُ وهو دونَ الكلِّ مخطوبُ

    A poem that, whenever poetry's suitor divorces other poems,

    you see, alone of them all, still sought in marriage.