وَلَم يَكُن مَلكٌ لِلقَومِ يُنزِلُهُم

إِلّا صَلاصِلُ لا تُلوى عَلى حَسَبِ

No ruler possessed a people, lowering them,

Except for unrelenting chains, by any means.

تَحَسَّرَ الماءُ عَنهُ وَاِستَجَنَّ بِهِ

إِلفانِ جُنّا مِنَ المكنانِ وَالقُطَبِ

The water recoiled from him, and he sought refuge in it—

Two cold Jinn from the planets and celestial poles.

جُماديَين حُسوماً لا يُعايِنُهُ

وَعيٌ مِنَ الناسِ في أَهلٍ وَلا غَرَبِ

Deaf and blind to people, kith or kin,

With neither family nor foreign ties.

تَبيتُ جارَتهُ الأَفعى وَسامِرُهُ

رُمد بِهِ عاذِرٌ مِنهُنَّ كَالجَرَبِ

The viper slept alongside him, his nighttime companion,

And he had scabies that excused him from them, like mange.

حَتّى إِذا جَنَّ أَغواءُ الظَلامِ لَهُ

مِن فَوزِ نَجمٍ مِنَ الجَوزاءِ مُلتَهِبِ

Until when the darkness enveloped its coves around him

With the rising of a star in the Crab’s glow.

أَخلى بِلينَةَ وَالرَنقاء مَرتَعهُ

يَقرو مَزاحِفَ جَونٍ ساقِطِ الرَبَبِ

He emptied the pasture of Leanah and Raunaqaa’

Who grazed the fallen branches of tender Jawan.

كَأَنَّ زُجلَةَ صَوبٍ صابَ مِن بَرَدٍ

شُنَّت شَآبيبهُ مِن رائِحٍ لجبِ

As if the singing of a loved one, touched by the cold,

Her braids dripping from the scent of aloeswood.

نَواصِح مِن حَمّاوَين أُحصِنَتا

مُمَنَّعاً كَهُمامِ الثَلجِ بِالضَرَبِ

Sincere advice from censors fortified

Like ice crystals in the pounding rain.

مَجنوبَةُ الأُنسِ مَشمولٌ مَواعِدُها

مِنَ الهِجانِ الجِمالِ الشطبِ وَالقَصَبِ

The intimacy's habitat, its dwellings disrupted

By quarreling, reed, boxwood, and bamboo stalks.