1. يا قَلبِ جَدَّد كَمَدا

    فَمَوعِدُ البينِ غَدا

    O heart, renew your grief;

    for parting is appointed for tomorrow.

  2. لَم أَرَ فَرقاً بَعدَهُم

    بَينَ الفِراقِ وَالرَدى

    After them, I have seen no difference

    between separation and death.

  3. يا زَفرَةً هَيَّجَها

    حادٍ مِنَ الغَورِ حَدا

    O sigh, stirred up

    by a chanting camel-driver from al-Ghawr!

  4. أَغنى زَفيرُ العاشِقَي

    نَ عيسَهُ عَنِ الحُدا

    The lovers' sighs spared

    his pale camels the driver's chant.

  5. أَرعى الحُمولَ ناظِراً

    وَأُلزِمُ القَلبَ يَدا

    I watch the laden camels with my gaze,

    and hold a hand against my heart.

  6. وَأَطرُدُ الطَرفَ عَلى

    آثارِهِم ما اِنطَرَدا

    I send my gaze onward along

    their tracks, as far as it will go.

  7. مُذ أَوقَدوا بِأَضلُعي

    جَمرَ الغَضا ما خَمَدا

    Since they kindled within my ribs

    ghada embers, they have never died.

  8. وَمُذ أَذابوا ماءَ عَي

    ني بِالأَسى ما جَمَدا

    And since they melted the water of my

    eye with sorrow, it has never congealed.

  9. يا هَل أَرى مِن حاجَةٍ

    حَقِفَ النَقا وَالجَمُدا

    Ah, shall I ever have cause to see

    al-Naqa's curved dune and al-Jamud,

  10. وَحَيثُ سالَ الرَملُ عَن

    جَرعائِهِ وَاِنعَقَدا

    and where the sand flowed from

    its sandy plain and gathered into heaps?

  11. وَهَل أُعيدُ ناظِراً

    يَتبَعُ سِرباً مُنجِدا

    And shall I again turn a gaze

    following a herd bound for Najd?

  12. يَمشينَ هَزّاتِ القَنا

    مالَ وَما تَحَصَّدا

    They walk with the sway of spear-shafts,

    bending, yet never cut down.

  13. هَل ناشِدٌ يَنشُدُ لي

    ذاكَ الغَزالَ الأَغيَدا

    Is there a seeker to search out for me

    that graceful gazelle?

  14. ما ضَلَّ عَنّي إِنَّما

    ضَلَّ بِقَلبي كَمَدا

    He has not strayed from me; rather,

    he has strayed off with my heart in grief.

  15. رَهَنتُهُ قَلبي وَمَن

    يَرهُنُ قَلباً أَبَدا

    I pledged him my heart—and who

    would ever pledge a heart?

  16. يا مُنجِزاً وَعيدَهُ

    وَما طِلاً ما وَعَدا

    O you who fulfills his threat,

    yet delays what he promised!

  17. أَراكَ مِنّي أَقرَباً

    وَإِن غَدَوتَ أَبعَدا

    I see you closer to me,

    though you have grown more distant.

  18. عَذَّبتَ قَلبي عَنَتاً

    وَالطَرفُ لا القَلبُ بَدا

    You tormented my heart cruelly,

    yet the eye, not the heart, began it.

  19. رُبَّ ثَنايا بَرَدَت

    لِذي جَوىً ما بَرَدا

    Many a set of front teeth has been cool

    to a lover whose ardor never cooled.

  20. يا حَرَّ قَلبي مَن سُقي

    رُضابَهُنَّ الأَبرَدا

    Ah, my heart's heat! Whoever is given

    their ice-cold saliva to drink

  21. لَم يَدرِ هَل ذاقَ بِها

    جَمرَ غَضاً أَو بَرَدا

    cannot tell whether through them he tasted

    ghada embers or hail.

  22. يا كَبِدي تَجَلُّداً

    فَما أُطيقُ الجَلَدا

    O my liver, endure,

    for I have no strength to endure.

  23. عَسى فُؤادٌ يَرعَوي

    رُبَّ مُضِلٍّ وَجَدا

    Perhaps a heart will come to its senses;

    many a man who lost something found it,

  24. وَحَمَّلَ الحاجَ الرَما

    حَ لا الأَمونَ الجَلعَدا

    and entrusted his needs to spears,

    not to a trusty, sturdy she-camel.

  25. إِنّي إِذا ما لَم أَجِد

    إِلّا الهَوانَ مَورِدا

    Indeed, when I find

    no watering place but humiliation,

  26. كُنتُ أُداوي كَبِدي

    لَو غادَروا لي كَبِدا

    I would soothe my liver,

    if they had left me a liver.

  27. دَع لِلمَشيبِ ذِمَّةً

    إِنَّ لَهُ عِندي يَدا

    Grant gray hair its due respect;

    for it has done me a kindness.

  28. أَعتَقَ مِن رِقِّ الهَوى

    مُذَلَّلاً مُعَبَّدا

    It freed from the bondage of love

    one humbled and enslaved.

  29. لَكِن هَوىً لي أَن أَرى

    لَونَ عِذاري أَسوَدا

    Yet I still long to see

    the color of my cheek-hair black.

  30. مَرَّ البَياضانِ عَلي

    هِ شائِباً وَأَمرَدا

    The two whitenesses passed over it,

    in gray-haired age and beardless youth.

  31. ما أَشلَقَ البُردَ فَلَم

    بَدَّلَ لي وَجَدَّدا

    The cloak had not worn out—why, then,

    was it replaced for me and renewed?

  32. لَولا تَكاليفُكَ لَم

    أُعطِ الزَمانَ مِقوَدا

    Were it not for the burdens you impose,

    I would not have given Time a rein,

  33. وَلا ثَنَيتُ عُنقي

    إِلى اللَيالي صَيدا

    nor bent my neck

    to the nights as prey.

  34. سَجِيَّةٌ مِن بَطَلٍ

    لازَمَ ما تَعَوَّدا

    Such is the nature of a hero

    who holds fast to his accustomed ways.

  35. بايَعَ أَطرافَ القَنا

    وَعاقَدَ المُهَنَّدا

    He swore allegiance to the spear-points

    and made a pact with the Indian blade.

  36. شاوَرتُ قَلباً آبِياً

    فَقالَ لي لا تَرِدا

    I consulted a defiant heart,

    and it told me, 'Do not drink there.'

  37. إِنّي لِقَومٍ بَعُدوا

    في المَجدِ وَالجودِ مَدى

    I belong to a people who have reached

    far in glory and generosity:

  38. شَوسٍ إِذا الباغي بَغى

    سُمحٍ إِذا الجادي جَدا

    fierce when an aggressor oversteps,

    generous when a petitioner asks.

  39. تَفَرَّعوا طَودَ العُلى

    وَالجَبَلَ العَطَوَّدا

    They scaled the mountain of high honor

    and the massive, towering peak.

  40. مَجدُهُمُ أَقدَمُ مِن

    هَضبِ القِنانِ مَولِدا

    Their glory is more ancient than

    the hills of al-Qinan in its birth.

  41. أَصادِقٌ في الخَطبِ لِل

    سَيفِ وَلِلمالِ عِدا

    True friends in adversity to the

    sword, and foes to wealth.

  42. إِذا اِهتَدى بِنارِهِم

    طارِقُ لَيلٍ ما اِهتَدى

    If their fire guides

    a visitor by night, he has not found his way.

  43. تَقارَعوا عَلى القِرى

    وَاِقتَرَعوا عَلى الجَدا

    They vied over hospitality

    and cast lots over the giving of gifts.

  44. وَغارَةٍ في سُدفَةٍ

    توقِظُ حَيّاً رَقَدا

    And many a raid in the twilight,

    rousing a tribe that slept,

  45. بِضُمَّرٍ أَسقَطَها

    عَليهِمُ مَعَ النَدى

    with lean steeds I let fall

    upon them together with the dew,

  46. تُلهِبُ نَضّاً زَعزَعاً

    أَو قَرَباً عَمَرَّدا

    spurring a fleet, nimble steed,

    or a taut-flanked, mighty one.

  47. كَأَنَّني أَبعَثُها

    فيهِم ثَنى وَمَوحِدا

    It is as if, when I send them

    against them two by two and singly,

  48. مُزاحِمٌ يَقذِفُ في

    يَومِ الحِصابِ جَلمَدا

    I am one jostling in a crowd, hurling

    a boulder on the day of pebble-casting.

  49. مِن كُلِّ مَحبوكٍ كَما

    أَمَرَّ لاوٍ مَسَدا

    Each a tightly built steed, as

    a rope-maker firmly plies a fiber cord.

  50. يُغني الفَتى عِنانُهُ

    عَن سَوطِهِ إِذا عَدا

    Its reins spare the young rider

    the need for his whip when it gallops.

  51. كَأَنَّما فارِسُهُ

    يَقدَعُ ذِئباً أَصرَدا

    It is as though its rider

    restrains a lean, ravenous wolf.

  52. أَنزَعُ عَن صَفحَتِهِ

    شَوكَ القَنا مُقَصَّدا

    I pluck from its flank

    the thorns of spears that riddled it.

  53. لَو شِمتَهُ بِبارِقٍ

    ماءَ الكُلابِ أَورَدا

    If you sighted it at Bariq,

    it would bring you to al-Kulab's waters.

  54. وَكُلُّ صِلٍّ لامِظٍ

    يَطلُبُ رَيّاً لِلصَدى

    And every viper licking his lips,

    seeking a draught to quench his thirst,

  55. أَقدَمَ مِن سِنانِهِ

    إِذا الجَبانُ عَرَّدا

    bolder than his spearpoint

    when the coward turns to flee;

  56. ماضٍ فَإِن شَمَّ طُرو

    قَ الضَيمِ زاغَ حَيَدا

    resolute—but if he scents the onset

    of humiliation, he swerves aside.

  57. يَلقى الطَرادَ جَذِلاً

    كَما يُلاقي الطَردا

    He meets mounted combat joyfully,

    as he meets the hunt.

  58. أَنا الغُلامُ القُرَشي

    يُ مُنجِباً ما وَلَدا

    I am the Qurashi youth,

    whose every offspring is noble.

  59. أَنزَعتُ دَلوي قَبلَكُم

    إِلى العِراقِ سُؤدُدا

    I cast my bucket before you

    toward Iraq, seeking eminence.

  60. ما زالَ عَزمي لِيَ عَن

    دارِ الهَوانِ مُبعِدا

    My resolve has always kept me far

    from the abode of humiliation,

  61. مُرَحِّلي عَن بَلَدٍ

    وَراجِماً بي بَلَدا

    making me depart from one land

    and flinging me into another.

  62. إِن لَم يَكُن نَيلُ مُنىً

    فَاِبغِ إِذاً وِردَ رَدى

    If wishes cannot be attained,

    then seek a draught of death.