1. أبارقاً شِمتَه بالغَورِ لمّاحا

    أهدَى لقلبِكَ أشجاناً وأتراحا

    Was it lightning you watched flashing in the Ghawr

    that brought your heart sorrows and grief?

  2. بُدَّلْتَهُ بعدَماقد كنتَ مغتبطاً

    بالقربِ تصحبُ راحاتٍ وأفراحا

    It was given you in exchange, after you had been content

    in nearness, keeping company with ease and joy.

  3. ما أنتَ أوَّلَ مَنْ أودَى بمهجتِهِ

    جِدُّ الغرامِ وخَالَ الوجدَ مزّاحا

    You are not the first whose lifeblood was destroyed

    by love's earnestness, while he thought longing a jester.

  4. ذقِ النميرَ الذي استعذبتَ مشربَه

    جهلاً فأصبحتَ لّما غاضَ مُلتاحا

    Taste the pure water whose draught you found sweet

    in ignorance; now that it has ebbed, you are parched.

  5. هذا دواؤكَ كم لبَّيتَ داعيَه

    لمّا دعاكَ وما استرشدتَ نُصّاحا

    This is your cure: how often you answered its caller

    when he called you, seeking no guidance from sincere advisers.

  6. ركِبتَ مِن وَلَهٍ بحرَ المنى غَرَراً

    وطالما جمحَ المغرورُ أو طاحا

    In lovesick longing you rode the sea of hopes recklessly,

    and often the deluded man has bolted or fallen.

  7. حتى أعادكَ ما تنفكُّ مِن وَلَهٍ

    تسبُّ طرفاً إلى الأحبابِ طَمّاحا

    Until it left you ceaselessly, in lovesick longing,

    cursing a gaze that strains toward the beloveds.

  8. تهيمُ عندَ طلوع الصبحِ مِن أَرَحٍ

    يَهديهِ بَرْدُ نسيمِ الروضِ نَفّاحا

    You wander enraptured at dawn's rising, out of delight

    brought by the coolness of the garden's fragrant breeze.

  9. تُبدي ارتياحاً إذا استنشقتَ نفحتَه

    حتى كأنَّكَ قد عاطيتَه الراحا

    You show delight when you inhale its fragrant breath,

    as though you had shared wine with it.

  10. ما مزنةٌ بتُّ أستجدي مدامِعُها

    وباتَ منها هزيمُ الغيثِ سَحّاحا

    No rain cloud whose tears I begged for through the night,

    and whose rumbling rain poured throughout the night,

  11. مُثْعَنْجِراً ملأَ الغيطانَ زاخِرُه

    فساخَ في الأرضِ ريّاً بعدَما ساحا

    streaming in torrents, its swollen flood filling the lowlands,

    then sinking into the earth, saturating it after flowing,

  12. أحيا نباتاً قلتْهُ السحبُ آونَةً

    كأنّما ردَّ فيهِ القَطْرُ أرواحا

    reviving plants the clouds had forsaken for a time,

    as though the rain had restored souls within them,

  13. يوماً بأغزرَ مِن دمعي على دِمَنٍ

    عَفَّى الغمامُ مغانيِهنَّ دَلاَّحا

    was ever more copious than my tears over camp remains

    whose dwellings rain-laden clouds had effaced.

  14. تَهمي إذا ما ظلامُ الليلِ مدَّ على

    عِطفيهِ مِن حِندسِ الظلماءِ أمساحا

    They stream when the darkness of night spreads upon

    its flanks coarse haircloths of deepest gloom.

  15. واِنْ تألَّقَ برقُ المزنِ هيَّجَني

    اِذا تبدَّى كنصلِ السيفِ أو لاحا

    And if the rain clouds' lightning flashes, it rouses me,

    when it appears like a sword blade or gleams.

  16. يهتزُّ بينَ سَواري السحبِ منتصباً

    أغرَّ أبلجَ للسارينَ وضّاحا

    It quivers upright among the night-drifting clouds,

    brilliant, radiant, plainly shining for night travelers.

  17. أشيمُه فَيَنِدُّ الدمعُ مِن حَرَقٍ

    والدمعُ ما زالَ للمشتاقِ فضّاحا

    I watch it, and tears escape from burning anguish;

    and tears have always betrayed the yearning lover.

  18. يُذكي الهديلُ غرامي عندَ وقفتِهِ

    مِنَ الحنينِ على الأغصانِ صدّاحا

    The cooing dove kindles my passion as it perches,

    singing aloud from longing upon the branches.

  19. فأنثَني للهيبِ الشوقِ في كَبِدي

    نضّاخُ دمعٍ لنارِ الشوقِ نَضّاحا

    Then I turn to the blaze of longing in my liver,

    gushing tears to sprinkle upon longing's fire.

  20. أبكي ولم أدرِ مِن حُزْنٍ ومِن وَلَهٍ

    غنَّى الحمامُ على الباناتِ أو ناحا

    I weep, not knowing, from sorrow and lovesick longing,

    whether the doves upon the bān trees sang or mourned.

  21. وأسترُ الوجدَ والتَّذكارُ يَفْضَحُهُ

    اِذا تنسَّمَ عَرْفُ الرَّندِ أو فاحا

    And I conceal longing, while remembrance exposes it,

    when the laurel's scent wafts or spreads.

  22. يَحكي قلائدَ سلمى طيبُ هبَّتِهَ

    أيامَ كنتُ لعَرْفِ الوصلِ مُمتاحا

    The fragrance of its gust recalls Salma's necklaces,

    in the days when I drew from the fragrance of union.

  23. أسري اليها قريرَ العينِ مبتسماً

    وأنثني مِن رُضابِ الثغرِ مُرتاحا

    I would travel to her by night, my eyes at peace, smiling,

    and return delighted by the sweet saliva of her mouth.

  24. اِذا ضللتُ هداني برقُ مبسمِها

    حتى كأني قد استنورتُ مِصباحا

    When I lost my way, the lightning of her smile guided me,

    as though I had lit my way with a lamp.

  25. كأنَّني مِن سرورٍ نالني ثَمِلٌ

    قد عُلَّ مِنْ عنبرىَّ الراحِ أقداحا

    As though I were drunk from the joy that came to me,

    served cup after cup of ambergris-scented wine.

  26. فاعتضتُ مِن بعدِه بُعداً على مَضَضٍ

    والدهرُ ما زالَ منّاعاً ومنّاحا

    Then, after it, I took separation in exchange, in bitter pain;

    and time has always withheld and bestowed.

  27. يا منزلاً نحوَه للنجبِ مُنْعَرَجٌ

    في البيدِ يذعرنَ رضراضاً وصُفّاحا

    O dwelling, toward which the noble riding camels turn,

    through the deserts, startling pebbles and flat stones.

  28. يقطعنَ أعراضَها غُلْبَ الرقابِ الى

    مرمًى يُعيدُ عِتاقَ العيسِ أشباحا

    Thick-necked, they cross its breadths toward

    a goal that turns noble pale camels into specters.

  29. خوصُ العيونِ بَراها الخَرْقُ لاغبةً

    في الخُطْمِ تسري قصارَ الخطوِ أطلاحا

    Sunken-eyed, worn down by the vast waste, weary,

    they journey by night in their halters, short-stepped and spent.

  30. حياكَ منّي حَيا دمعي بمندَفِقٍ

    أمسى عليكَ مُلِثُّ القَطْرِ سفّاحا

    May the rain of my tears greet you from me with a torrent

    that pours upon you by evening, its drops ceaseless and abundant.

  31. فما ترى بعدَ أن يسقيكَ وابِلُه

    مِن صَّيبِ الجَوْدِ مُلتاحا ومُجتاحا

    So, once its downpour waters you, you will not be seen

    parched or ravaged, thanks to that copious downpour.

  32. عهدي بمغناكَ تُصبيني نضارتُه

    ضحيانَ منفسحَ الأرجاءِ فيّاحا

    I remember your abode, its freshness enchanting me,

    sunlit, wide in its reaches, spacious.

  33. فكيفَ أبلتْ صروفُ الدهرِ جدَّتَه

    وكيفَ أصبحَ روضُ اللهوِ مُنصاحا

    How then did time's vicissitudes wear out its freshness,

    and how did the garden of pleasure become withered?

  34. وكيفَ أبلسَ حتى جئتُ أسألُه

    فما أجابَ واِنْ اسهبتُ اِلحاحا

    And how did it fall mute, so that I came to question it,

    and it gave no reply, though I persisted at length?

  35. لا ذنبَ لِلجَلْدِ يُبدي ما يكابِدُه

    من الفراقِ إذا ما ناحَ أو باحا

    No blame lies upon the steadfast man who reveals what he endures

    from separation, when he laments or speaks openly.

  36. يا ناقِدَ الدرِ أصبتْهُ قلائدُه

    وموضحَ الكلماتِ الغرَّ ايضاحا

    O appraiser of pearls, enthralled by their necklaces,

    and one who clearly explains radiant words,

  37. خُذها إليكَ مِنَ الاِقواءِ سالمةً

    تعيدُ بحرَ بُناةِ الشَّعرِ ضَحْضاحا

    take these for yourself, free of inconsistent rhyme vowels;

    they turn the sea of poetry's builders into shallow water.

  38. قصائدٌ تُفْحِمُ المِنطيقَ شرَّدُها

    عِيّاً واِنْ كانَ جزلَ القولِ مَدّاحا

    Poems whose far-ranging verses silence the eloquent speaker,

    leaving him speechless, though he is weighty in words and lavish in praise.

  39. يُخَجَّلُ الأفوهَ الأودىَّ ناظِمُها

    وجَرْوَلاً وجريراً والطَّرِمّاحا

    Their composer puts al-Afwah al-Awdi to shame,

    and Jarwal, Jarir, and al-Tirimmah.

  40. اِذا تغزَّلَ ردَّ الوُرْقَ ساجعةً

    واِنْ تنكَّرَ سَدَّ الأّفقَ أرماحا

    When he composes love verse, he sets the gray doves cooing,

    and if he turns hostile, he blocks the horizon with spears.