1. أمّا والهوىَ إني بكم لعميدُ

    وإن غرامي بعدَكم لشديدُ

    Ah, by love, I am indeed lovesick for you,

    And my passion in your absence is truly fierce.

  2. وإن غيرّ الناسُ العبادَ فإنني

    هواي صَحِيحٌ والودادُ أكيد

    Though people change their servants, as for me,

    My love is true, and my affection steadfast.

  3. أجيراتنا بالرمِل رَمْلِ مُحَجّر

    لعلَ زماناً بالوصالِ يجودُ

    O our dear neighbors on the sands, the sands of Muhajjar,

    Perhaps time will bestow reunion.

  4. أبثكم إني على العهد ثابتٌ

    وإن نُقضت من نازحين عهودُ

    I confide to you that I remain steadfast in the pledge,

    Though pledges are broken by those who have gone afar.

  5. وإن حال ما بين البعادُ وبيَنكم

    فإنكم القومُ الذينَ أرِيْد

    And though separation has come between us,

    You are indeed the people I desire.

  6. وكمْ من بعيدِ الدارِ وهو مُواصلٌ

    وأخر داني الدارِ وهو بعيدُ

    How many whose dwellings are distant maintain close ties,

    While another whose dwelling is near remains distant.

  7. فلا مَطَرت من بعدكم كثبُ الغضَا

    ولا أخضرّ من وادي عيينة عُودُ

    So may the ghada dunes receive no rain after you,

    Nor a bough grow green in the valley of Uyaynah.

  8. أُحبُّ زَرُودا والاثيلَ محَلتي

    وهيهاتَ من أهل الأثيل زرودُ

    I love Zarud and al-Athil, my two abodes,

    Yet far from the people of al-Athil lies Zarud.

  9. ولو قيل لي مَاذا على اللهِ تشتهي

    لقلت زمانَ الأبرقَين يَعُودُ

    Were I asked, 'What do you wish of God?'

    I would say, 'That the days of al-Abraqayn return.'

  10. لعلّ وليدا إن يضمِّ بجوده

    جراحي فكم ضمّ الشعوبَ وليدُ

    May Walid, if he will, bind with his bounty

    My wounds—for how often Walid has united peoples!

  11. وما برحت تلقى الرجال شيوخه

    ويثمر قصد عنده وقصيد

    His elders have never ceased meeting men,

    And seeking and poetry bear fruit with him.

  12. نجيبٌ له من فرَع زَنِّ بن مالك

    جدودٌ ومجدٌ لا ينال وجوَد

    A noble man, he has from the branch of Zann ibn Malik

    Forefathers, unsurpassed glory, and generosity.

  13. تَلاَ مِنْ سعيدٍ بل سُهَيل طَريقه

    وغيره عَجيب للأسُود تَسُودُ

    He followed the path of Saʿid—rather, Suhayl;

    And anything else would be strange, for lions rule.

  14. فلا عَدِمت هذي الوجوه فإنَها

    بدورٌ لِعكٍ كُلّهُنَ سعودُ

    So may I never lose these faces, for they

    Are full moons for ʿAkk, all auspicious stars.