1. O Salma, do your elders still reside there,
And does Ghada still have a home?

2. My soul has reached the extent of her love,
And your happening has further kindled my passion.

3. O Salma, I suffer the weariness of love,
Amidst toil from which I find no escape.

4. A scheme from Khartoum they sacrifice for,
As if a callous one dispatches it.

5. O Salma, your return for the slain beloved,
Is like a serpent killing the spitter.

6. I say to the flute, when it resembled her,
Play what saddened the nightly weeper!

7. O, beautiful Salma, when she saunters about,
Neither hasty vendors nor night guards notice her.

8. White, yellow, cloaked in a gown,
Untouched by virtue or sin.

9. Her hips sway when she walks,
As if a deviant makes them dance.

10. She’s the one - if I gained her and love
While the illness dwelled in my sickly ribs,

11. It’s as if an ulcer festered my liver,
From passion, ruptured by one who harvests.

12. If I tasted her awake or asleep,
I’d live and no affliction would ruin me.

13. And a companion like an unsheathed sword,
Neither affectionate nor betraying.

14. Of lethal woes for the young man
Whose virtues a wanton spoils.

15. He worships no money and bewails no injustice,
With horses - no fleer and no mocker.

16. I accompanied him whether in rule or market
In doctrine - its practitioner an avid investigator.

17. When he saw me come purely visiting,
With no adulterator to soil the unmixed wine,

18. He gave generously from his wealth
Without leaving the sender anything to give.

19. Like a young crow alighting by its mother,
A little pig - its squeals alert a responder.

20. As if when the suitor confronted him,
He was a voracious lion on the prowl.

21. And how can one without prayers fulfill you
When you request virtuous deeds of him?

22. O son of Shabib! You cure the winged ones of mange!
But from you comes the most wicked villainy.

23. When you played your tricks, you toyed with me,
Yet the lion is not toyed with by the player!

24. You were like one seeking praise
Though the seeker is the one who suffers for it!

25. You have become of a cup whose bitterness
Followed cups - bitter is its taste!

26. As if your head contained a swelling
Or pus crept into it and corrupted it!

27. Why didn’t you, on the day your mother wedded,
Defend her while the trailing gown dragged behind her?

28. She walked tall on her feet, and her disability was good for him;
The crippled, older woman.

29. As if a one-eyed creature hid in her womb, in her womb,
Now visible, now hidden - a tall, spotted snake.

30. One who vowed to us and then reneged his vow -
The successor went back on his promise.

31. As though he had never loved me,
While sincere advice is no shame and no fault.

32. A doomed man ruined my livelihood
Though excellent is the ploughed field and its tiller!

33. O Harith of Mahra! You are a man
Sated - the hungry envy you not.

34. You were as one assigned to bankrupt
An orphan’s head - filthy and unkempt!

35. You denied knowing me when you gained wealth;
Uff to you! Uff to you, O Harith!

36. So drink from your two cups and do not allow me
A little that the heir inherits.

37. I have resigned to accept what you called me,
Or for death to send us a sender!