1. تألَّق يقدم ركب النعامى

    شروداً أبى سرعةً أن يشاما

    Lightning flashed, leading the south wind's caravan,

    elusive, refusing in its swiftness to be watched,

  2. خفيَّاً كنبض ذراع المريض

    ولمح ثغور الحسان ابتساما

    faint as the pulse in a sick man's arm,

    and the flash of fair women's teeth as they smile.

  3. كأنَّ السَّما ريطةٌ رحِّلت

    وذهِّب من طرفيها الغماما

    As though the sky were a saddle-patterned shawl,

    and the clouds along both its edges were gilded.

  4. بدا والدُّجى فحمةٌ كاللَّهيب

    له شررٌ بالدراري ترامى

    It appeared like a flame, with night a lump of coal,

    its sparks darting among the brilliant stars.

  5. فهيَّج للقلب أشواقه

    ونبه لوعته ثم ناما

    It stirred the heart's longings,

    and woke its anguish, then slept.

  6. سرى موهناً فاستطار الفؤاد

    إلى ما تذكَّر منه وهاما

    It passed in the dead of night, and the heart took wing

    toward the memories it stirred, and wandered in love.

  7. تذكَّر أيامه بالغميم

    فحنَّ وما كنَّ إلا مناما

    It recalled its days at al-Ghamim,

    and yearned, though they were nothing but a dream.

  8. أثار له من جواه القديم

    وقلَّده الوجد طوقاً لزاما

    It stirred some of his old heartache,

    and passion bound him with an inescapable collar.

  9. تحرَّشه فسباه جوًى

    وجرَّده فقضاه غراما

    It provoked him, and heartache took him captive,

    and stripped him bare, then doomed him to consuming passion.

  10. ومذ خاله الطرف سقط الزِّناد

    أمال إلى القلب منه الضراما

    And when the eye took it for a spark from a fire-striker,

    it turned that blaze toward the heart.

  11. لقد كان في راحةٍ قبله

    فجرَّ إلى عاتقيه حساما

    He had indeed been at ease before it,

    but it brought a sword to his shoulders.

  12. وقد كان من قبله داؤه

    دفيناً فهيَّج منه السقاما

    His malady, before it came, had lain

    buried; it stirred his sickness anew.

  13. أيا برق كم ذا تعنِّي الحشا

    أعمداً تروم أذاه على ما

    O lightning, how you torment the inmost heart!

    Do you deliberately seek to hurt it—and for what?

  14. إلى مَ تمثل نجداً له

    فيهفو وهيهات نجدٌ إلى ما

    To what end do you conjure Najd before it,

    so that it yearns, though Najd is far away—to what end?

  15. تقول وأسباب هذا الغرام

    ضروبٌ تحيِّر فيه الأناما

    You say—though the causes of this passion

    are manifold, bewildering all mankind—

  16. أمن كبدي سيفه مصلتٌ

    فيبدي الوجيب إلى أن يشاما

    “Is its sword drawn from my liver,

    revealing the throbbing until it is sheathed?”

  17. لعمرك ما ذاك لكنَّما

    تذكَّر نجداً وأيام راما

    By your life, that is not it; rather,

    it remembered Najd and the days at Rama:

  18. منازل كان المنى خادماً

    بها والزمان لدينا غلاما

    abodes where hope was a servant,

    and Time, there, was our serving boy.

  19. فآهاً لأيامها لو تدوم

    وآهاً لحلميَ لو كان داما

    Ah for their days—if only they could last!

    And ah for my dream—if only it had endured!

  20. نشدتك والودُّ يا صاحبي

    يراه الفتى الحرُّ ديناً لزاما

    I implore you, my friend—affection,

    which a noble young man regards as a binding duty—

  21. أعرني إن كان طرفٌ يعار

    فإنسان عيني بدمعي عاما

    lend me an eye, if an eye may be lent,

    for my eye's pupil swims in my tears.

  22. يرى لي فؤادي وراء الرِّكاب

    أسارَ وإلا لعجزٍ أقاما

    To see my heart for me behind the riding camels:

    has it journeyed, or stayed through helplessness?

  23. فمن يوم بتنا على غرَّبٍ

    نشيعهم وأشالوا الخياما

    For since the day we spent the night at Ghurrab,

    seeing them off as they struck their tents,

  24. أضلَّيته بين بان الكثيب

    وما ثمَّ إلا ظباه قياما

    I lost it among the ban-trees of the dune,

    and only its gazelles stood there.

  25. خف الله يا ظبيات النَّقا

    أما في دمي تحملين الأثاما

    Fear God, O gazelles of the dune!

    Do you not bear guilt for my blood?

  26. رعى الله منكنَّ ظبياً أغر

    أحلَّ بجسمي داءً عقاما

    May God guard a bright-faced gazelle among you,

    who lodged an incurable disease in my body.

  27. أغار عليه اعتناق الصَّبا

    وأحسد رشف لماه البشاما

    I envy the east wind its embrace of him,

    and envy the basham as it sips his dusky lips.

  28. إذا ما بدى في الدُّجى خده

    أحال الدُّجى من ضياه عياما

    Whenever his cheek appears in the darkness,

    its radiance turns the darkness to smoke.

  29. يبيت على غرَّةٍ لاهياً

    إذا بتُّ أجرع فيه الحماما

    He spends the night unaware and carefree,

    while I spend mine gulping death for his sake.

  30. وليلة زار على شحطه

    تحاشى الضِّيا فتوارى الظَّلاما

    And one night he visited, despite his distance,

    he shunned the light and hid in darkness.

  31. سرى والدُّجى عاكفٌ راجلاً

    حذار المطيَّة تبدي البغاما

    He came on foot while darkness lingered,

    for fear his mount might let out a lowing cry.

  32. فوافى على عجلٍ مضجعي

    ومن دونه بطن فلجٍ وراما

    So he hurried to my bed,

    though Falaj's valley floor and Rama lay in his path.

  33. فبتُّ أعانق منه القضيب

    وأرقب منه الهلال التماما

    So I spent the night embracing his slender bough,

    and gazing on his crescent moon in its fullness,

  34. وأشتمُّ من خدِّه وردةً

    وأرشف من شفتيه المداما

    and smelling a rose upon his cheek,

    and sipping wine from his lips.

  35. وودَّع لو كان ذاك الوداع

    وسار فودَّع جفني المناما

    He bade farewell—if only that were the only farewell—

    and left; then my eyelid bade farewell to sleep.