1. لكم مِن فؤادي شاهدٌ ليس يكذبُ

    ومِن دمعِ عيني صامتٌ وهو مُعرِبُ

    You have in my heart a witness who does not lie;

    and in my eye's tears, a silent witness who speaks plainly.

  2. ولي من شهودِ الحبَّ خدٌّ مُخَدَّدٌ

    وقلبٌ على نارِ الغرامِ يُقَلَّبُ

    And among love's witnesses I have a furrowed cheek,

    and a heart turned over the fire of passion.

  3. ولي بالرسومِ الخُرسِ مِن بعدِ أهلِها

    غرامٌ عليه ما أزالُ أؤنَّبُ

    And for the mute ruins, after their people have gone,

    I have a passion for which I am ceaselessly reproached.

  4. واِنْ عنَّ ذكرُ الراحلينَ عنِ الحِمى

    وقفتُ فلا أدري إلى أين أذهبُ

    And if remembrance of those who left the preserve comes to mind,

    I stand still, not knowing where to go.

  5. فربعٌ أُناجيهِ وقد ظلَّ خالياً

    ودمعٌ أُعانيهِ وقد بات يُسكَبُ

    Then a dwelling I address in secret, now standing empty,

    and tears I endure, now pouring through the night;

  6. وصبرٌ

    وقد بانوا تباعدَ للنوى

    and patience,

    now they have departed, has withdrawn because of separation;

  7. ووجدٌ وقد ساروا الى الصبَّ يَقرُبُ

    يُروَعُه لمعُ البروقِ وتارةً

    and anguish, now they have journeyed, draws near to the lovelorn man.

    Lightning flashes alarm him, and at times

  8. يبيتُ بتغريدِ الحمامِ يُعذَّبُ

    ودمعٌ على الخدَّينِ يَهمي سحابُه

    he spends the night tormented by the doves' song.

    And tears, whose cloud pours upon both cheeks,

  9. اِذا ما انبرتْ الحمائمُ تَندُبُ

    ويَشغَفُها بانُ الحمى وظِلالُه

    whenever the doves begin to lament.

    The preserve's moringa trees and their shade enrapture her,

  10. فتُوفي على فرعٍ مِن البانِ تَخطُبُ

    فللّهِ مِن نارٍ لا يعرفُ الغمضَ جفنُها

    so she perches high on a moringa branch and speaks.

    By God, what a fire! Her eyelid knows no sleep

  11. اِذا ما بدا مِن أوّلِ الليلِ كوكبُ

    تبيتُ تُراعيه ودونَ لقائها

    when a star appears at the beginning of night.

    She spends the night watching it, while barring her reunion

  12. بمَنْ بانَ عن نعمانَ عنقاءُ مُغرِبُ

    فجسمي وقد بانوا الى الحيَّ راجعٌ

    with one who left Nuʿman is the elusive ʿAnqāʾ.

    My body, now they have departed, returns to the encampment,

  13. وقلبي مع الأحبابِ في الركب يَجنُبُ

    وقد كان مِن مُرَّ التجنَّي مروَّعاً

    while my heart travels alongside the caravan with my loved ones.

    It had been terrified by the bitterness of unfounded reproach;

  14. فكيف إذا ما عادَ وهو تَجنُّبُ

    وما أنا في وجدي بأوَّلِ واثقٍ

    how, then, when that returns as shunning?

    In my anguish I am not the first trusting man

  15. تبدَّى له برقٌ مِنَ الوعدِ خُلَّبُ

    ولا حائرٍ في عرصةِ الربع واقفٍ

    before whom a promise's rainless lightning appeared,

    nor the first bewildered man standing in the dwelling's courtyard,

  16. يُحيَّيهِ في شرعِ المطامعِ أشعبُ

    يسائلُ عن هندٍ فلمّا ترحّلتْ

    whom Ashʿab greets under the law of covetous hopes.

    He asks after Hind; when she departed,

  17. أقامَ فحيَّتْهُ على الدارِ زينبُ

    لها مِن غزالِ الرملِ حُسْنُ التفاتهِ

    he remained, and Zaynab greeted him at the dwelling.

    She has the sand gazelle's lovely backward glance

  18. اِذا ضَلَّ عنه في الأجارِعِ رَبْرَبُ

    ويَسلبُه سحرُ العيونِ اصطبارَهُ

    when a herd strays away from it among the sandy flats.

    The enchantment of eyes robs him of his endurance,

  19. ويَخلُبُه لفظٌ مِنَ الماءِ أعذبُ

    ويَصْدِفُها شَعرٌ بفَودَيهِ أشيبٌ

    and speech sweeter than water bewitches him.

    Hair gray at both his temples turns her away,

  20. ويَشغَفُه ثغرٌ للمياءَ أشنبُ

    ولم أنسَها يومَ الوَداعِ وقد بدا

    while a dark-lipped beauty's pearly-toothed mouth enraptures him.

    I have not forgotten her on the day of farewell, when there appeared

  21. لتوديعنا ذاكَ البنانُ المخضَّبُ

    فلا راحةٌ إلا وقد سارَ أُنْسُها

    those dyed fingertips, to bid us farewell.

    No repose is left whose solace has not departed,

  22. ولا صبرَ إلا وهو بالهجرِ يُغلَبُ

    ومَنْ يُعتِبُ المشتاقُ والنأيُ خصمُه

    and no patience that estrangement does not overcome.

    Who can appease the yearning lover when distance is his adversary?

  23. ومَنْ ذا الذي يوماً على البينِ يَعتِبُ

    وأُلزِمتُ ذنباً في الهوى ما اقترفتُهُ

    And who can ever reproach separation?

    I was charged with a sin in love that I never committed,

  24. وما كنتُ لولا الدمعُ في الحبَّ أُذنِبُ

    حنينٌ إذا جَدَّ الرَّحيلُ رأيتُه

    and, were it not for tears, I would not have sinned in love.

    A yearning that, when departure becomes urgent, I see

  25. بنفسيَ في اِثرِ الظعائنِ يًلْغُبُ

    شوقٌ إلى أهلِ الديارِ يحثُّه

    within my soul, growing weary in the wake of the women's litters;

    a longing for the dwellings' people, spurred on

  26. غرامٌ إلى العذريَّ يُعزى ويُنسَبُ

    وما مزنةٌ أرختْ على الدارِ وبلَها

    by a passion ascribed and traced to the ʿUdhri lover.

    No rain cloud that releases its downpour upon the dwelling—

  27. ففي كلَّ أرضٍ جدولٌ منه يَثْعَبُ

    اِذا ما ارجحنَّتْ في الهواءِ وأرزمتْ

    so that a stream from it gushes through every land,

    when it sags heavily in the air and thunders,

  28. تدلَّى لها فوقَ الخمائلِ هَيدَبُ

    واِنْ نضبتْ ممّا تًسُحُّ سحابةٌ

    its fringe of rain hanging down above the groves,

    and, if a cloud runs dry from what it pours,

  29. ألحَّتْ عليها دِيمةٌ ليس تَنضُبُ

    بأغزرَ مِن دمعي وقد أُخفرَ السُّرى

    a never-ending steady rain presses upon it—

    is more copious than my tears, when night travel was betrayed

  30. وأمستْ نياقُ الظاعنينَ تُغرَّبُ

    ولا بنتُ دوحٍ في الحدائقِ أصبحت

    and the departing travelers' she-camels were driven west at dusk.

    Nor is a daughter of the trees, who greets the morning in the gardens

  31. تنوحُ على بانِ الحِمى وتُطَرَّبُ

    لها في أفانينِ الغصونِ ترنُّمٌ

    lamenting upon the preserve's moringa trees and moved to song,

    with a melody among the varied branches

  32. يكادُ بما عندَ الحمامةِ يُعرِبُ

    بأطيبَ مِن شعرٍ أُنضَّدُ لفظَهُ

    that almost voices what lies within the dove,

    sweeter than poetry whose words I array

  33. على حَسْبِ ما أختارُه وأُرتَّبُ

    قريضٌ غدتْ منه القصائدُ شرَّداً

    as I choose and arrange them.

    Verse whose poems have become far-roaming wanderers,

  34. تُشرَّقُ ما بينَ الورى وتُغَرَّبُ

    قصائدُ لو أنَّي تقدَّمتُ أوّلاً

    borne east among humankind, and west.

    Poems that, had I come forward first

  35. بهنَّ لأطراها نِزارٌ ويَعرُبُ

    ولو أنَّها في عصرِ قومٍ تقدَّموا

    with them, Nizar and Yaʿrub would have extolled them.

    Had they been in the age of those who came before,

  36. لكانتْ بأفواهِ البريَّةِ تُخْطَبُ

    واِنْ رامَها غيري وحدَّثَ نفسَهُ

    they would have been sought on the lips of humankind.

    If another seeks them and talks to himself

  37. ضلالاً بما فيها مِن الفضلِ يَتعَبُ

    فهنَّ لأربابِ المنائحِ مفخرٌ

    deludedly of their excellence, he will weary himself.

    They are a source of pride to the bestowers of gifts,

  38. وهنَّ لأربابِ المدائحِ مكسبُ

    ويختارُها عقلُ الأريبِ قينثني

    and a source of gain to the masters of praise-poems.

    The discerning man's mind selects them, then turns

  39. اليها ويُمسي عن سواها يُنكَّبُ

    وما فاحَ عرفُ المسكِ إلا وجدتَهُ

    toward them, and by evening is turned away from all others.

    And whenever musk's fragrance wafts, you find it

  40. يُحدَّثُ أن العرفَ منهنَّ أطيبُ

    being told that their fragrance is sweeter.