1. For whom are the ruins between Juddah and the mountain,
An ancient abode where nights were spent?

2. It was abandoned, with no visitors passing by,
And became unrecognizable as it faded away.

3. The turns of fate deserted it,
Leaving it uninhabited after its dwellers left.

4. The thunderclouds burst over its ruins,
Rumbling when their darkness gathers.

5. With wind and lightning that flashed among the clouds,
And thunder, when its roar sounded.

6. It grew plants of wild thyme and thyme,
Basil, rue, and wormwood.

7. It became home to the sandgrouse and owl,
And birds of the desert and francolin.

8. Partridges are there, and black grouse,
Chicks of sandgrouse, and quail.

9. An elephant, gazelles, and a hyena pup
A colony where jerboas have settled.

10. There are wild cows, oryxes, ibexes of Anjad,
And a ostrich wandering with a slanted gait.

11. When after my imagining I recognized the house,
My tears flowed down my cheeks.

12. I said: “O house of Salma, through what
Have you attained, that you would not be substituted?”

13. “Long has it been since you became desolate and accustomed
To being awaited by whoever comes and goes.

14. A refuge for virtuous, beautiful maidens,
And many a youth, lion-like and valiant hero.

15. I would captivate singing slave-girls,
And they would captivate me with coquetry and ogling.

16. Nights I would captivate singing girls
Wearing black wool, adorned with anklets.

17. As if drops of musk on their breasts
Were poured onto a curve and the shoulders.

18. My heart became enamored with an Arab girl
Luxuriating in brocade, jewelry, and anklets.

19. She has a glance - if she looked with it
At a monk who had fasted devoutly for God,

20. He would become infatuated, obsessed with loving her,
As if he had never fasted or prayed to God.

21. Oh, how many a day I have flirted with her
When her father was absent at night or inattentive!

22. She said to some ashes of mine I had made into kohl,
‘How will he be if he dies? Or how will he be revived?’

23. Can his burial escape us if it is at night?
For can the crescent moon escape notice when it sets?”

24. You killed the Kindite poet, the one
Whose poetry all people talked about - what an awful thing!

25. Why did you kill the famous one, the horseman who
Splits the skulls of men without hesitation?

26. Oh Banu Kindah, kill the son of your uncle,
Else you are neither tribe nor protectors.”

27. A slain man in the valley of love, with no killer,
No corpse to be mourned, no grave there.

28. She is the one whom my heart loved,
Dazzling and white, a gazelle of kisses.

29. She is gone, and people speak of and know her,
She is gone, and in every place she is exemplary.

30. It is as if after sleeping, her teeth have
Yellow each or apples in candy and honey.

31. She walks proudly, silent steps,
Her anklets jingling as she strides.

32. If she walked with them at the door of the Sabspis,
They would not stop jingling.

33. She is she and she and she and she and she,
She who I wished for from life and people together.

34. No, no indeed! None but the beautiful,
No, no indeed! None but the departed.

35. So much, so much and so much, so much, so much, so much,
I crossed the deserts and wilderness, did not slacken.

36. And stop, stop stop with her stopping,
My tears flowed down from her stopping.

37. If only, if only, if only, if only,
The house of Salma was near, I'd be the first to arrive.

38. And about, about, about, about,
I ask about her from all who traveled and left.

39. And in, in, in, in,
And in Salma’s gardens I kissed, did not tire.

40. I asked, asked, asked, asked,
I asked about the house of Salma and spring - how I asked!

41. I squeezed, squeezed, squeezed,
I squeezed her cheek, adorned with a mole.

42. Hejazi in the eyes, Meccan in features,
Iraqi in figure, Roman in ankle.

43. Tihami in body, Absi in glance,
Khuza'i in teeth, juicy in kiss.

44. I said to her: “To which tribe are you attributed,
So that I may ask about you in verse among people?”

45. She said: “I am Kindite, Arab.”
I said: “Certainly not! Never! Absurd!”

46. She said: “I am Roman, non-Arab.”
I said: “Get out, scram, you mangy dog!”

47. When we met, I found her lips
Dyed, telling of passion with flames.

48. I played her chess, my horses in a row,
And castled against her hastily.

49. She said: “This is no skill of a player!
But killing the king with a pawn is fate.”

50. So I mated her in two moves with the pawn, hastily,
And did not slacken.

51. My every move was with a kiss
On lips like a crescent moon when it sets.

52. I kissed her ninety-nine kisses,
And one more - and I was in a hurry.

53. I embraced her until her necklace broke
And the clusters of her choker scattered.

54. It was as if when the clusters of her choker scattered,
The light of lamps flew from a flame.

55. My final words are like my first:
For whom are the ruins between Juddah and the mountain?