Poems
- أتهجر ليلى لا ولا نعمة الهجرWill you forsake Layla? No—there is no blessing in forsaking her.
- أذقني طعم الأمن أو سل حقيقةEnglish translation unavailable
- أراني وذئب القفر خدنين بعدماI find myself and the wolf of the wasteland close companions, after
- أسجنا وقيدا واغترابا وفرقةImprisonment, fetters, exile, and separation,
- ألا ليت شعري هل تغير بعدناAh, if only I knew: have they changed since we left—
- إنا وإن كنا أسنة قومناWe, though we were the spearheads of our people,
- انظر فرنق جزاك الله صالحةLook, then gaze intently—may God reward you with good—
- أيا ابن سعيد زبر باد لحميO son of brave Sa'eed, my flesh is gone
- بأي فتى يا ابني حبيب بللتماWhat a youth you have come up against, O two sons of Habib,
- تبكي على الدنيا سفاها وقد ترىYou foolishly weep over this world, though you see
- تبكي على الرهدون قد حال دونهYou weep for al-Rahdun, but the way to him has been barred
- جرى ظبي ببين الحي فرداA gazelle ran alone amid the tribe’s departure,
- حمراء تامكة السنام كأنهاA red she-camel with a towering hump, as though she were
- حملت عليها ما لو ان حمامةI placed upon her a load that a dove, if
- سأبكي حصينا ما تغنى حمائمI shall weep for Ḥuṣayn as long as doves sing,
- ظللت وناقتي نضوي فلاةMy she-camel and I spent the day, two travel-worn creatures of the wilderness,
- ظلمت الناس فاعترفوا بظلميI wronged people, and they acknowledged my wrongdoing.
- علام ترى ليلى تعذب بالمنىWhy do you think Layla torments with hopes
- كأن بلاد الله وهي عريضةIt is as though God's lands, vast as they are,
- كأن لم أقد سبحانك الله فتيةAs though I had never led—glory be to You, O God!—a band of young men,
- كأني وليلى لم يكن حل أهلناAs though our people—Layla’s and mine—had never settled
- لعمرك إني والظليم بقفرةBy your life, I and the male ostrich in a wilderness
- لعمرك إني يوم أقواع زلفةBy your life, on the day at the flats of Zulfah, I
- لقد أوقع البقال بالفقي وقعةAl-Baqqal has indeed struck a blow at al-Faqi.
- لقد خفت حتى خلت أن ليس ناظرIndeed, I was so afraid I thought no one was looking
- لقد خفت حتى كل نجوى سمعتهاIndeed, I have grown so fearful that every whispered conversation I have heard
- لقد خفت حتى لو تمر حمامةIndeed, I was so afraid that, if even a dove passed by,
- ليت التي سخرت مني ومن جمليIf only the woman who mocked me and my camel
- وحالفت الوحوش وحالفتنيAnd I made a pact with the wild beasts, and they with me,
- وساخرة مني ولو أن عينهاAnd many a woman mocks me; yet if her eye
- وغبت فلم أشهد ولو كنت شاهداAnd I was absent, so I did not witness it; had I been present,
- ولو أن قارات حوالي جلاجلAnd if the rocky hills around Jalajil—
- ولو لم يقنع عند أبيات خالهAnd had he not been given cover beside his maternal uncle’s tents,
- ويا رب إن لم تعف عني تلقنيO my Lord, if You do not forgive me, You will cast me
- ويوم كتنور الإمام سجرنهAnd many a day like the imam’s oven, which they had stoked
- يا رب عفوك عن ذي توبة وجلO my Lord, pardon a trembling penitent,
- يقول وقد ألممت بالإنس لمةHe says, as I gathered resolve among the people,
No poems found.