1. أمصطبر أنت ان فوّضوا

    وأموا المصيف من المربع

    Will you endure if they break camp,

    and leave their spring abode for summer quarters?

  2. ستجزع أن صرت في ركبهم

    وإن لا تسر فيهم تجزع

    You will grieve to find yourself in their caravan;

    and if you do not travel with them, you will grieve.

  3. تخير لنفسك في حالتين

    فأقض باحداهما واصدع

    Choose for yourself between two states:

    decide on one, and declare it plainly.

  4. فأما على نية فاعتزم

    وأما على ظله فاربع

    Either resolve upon a destination,

    or remain beneath its shade.

  5. قد ابتكروا واستقلت بهم

    قلائص مشدودة الأنسع

    They have set out at dawn, and are borne away

    by young she-camels with tightly drawn girth-straps.

  6. قليلاً علينا فانا على

    أسى مؤلم وهوى مضرع

    Go gently with us, for we are beset by

    painful sorrow and love that brings us low.

  7. نشيعكم ولعل الغنا

    ء للصب نظرة مستمتع

    We see you off; perhaps solace

    for the lovesick is one look to savor.

  8. وبي كمد لو غدا بالصفا

    لذبن وبالورق لم تسجع

    Within me is grief: were it to touch smooth rocks,

    they would melt; were it in gray doves, they would not coo.

  9. وجدنا بكم وعلى بينكم

    ومن أجلكم فوق ما ندعي

    Our anguish for you, and at your parting—

    all because of you—is beyond what we profess.