1. Greet the abode though it lies desolate
In a wilderness, lofty, smooth and serene

2. Of the abode remains naught I found
Save fragrant herbs and tent-pegs between

3. As though, on the day it rose from the vale
Of Al-Sana, it donned brocades unseen

4. No sooner glimpsed it than I halted by
Prolonging my gaze up and down at the scene

5. So the eye poured from knowing it a flood
Like rainclouds watering deserts with sheen

6. I lingered like one drunk, for many a day
By a graceful doe with fawns fat and lean

7. I send my gaze hither and thither to graze
On its glades, halts, and pathways terrene

8. No hearts between our clan are estranged
Nor secrets from our midst filched or purloined