أنِّي مررتُ بشاهينٍ وقد نَفَحتْ

ريحُ العَشِىِّ وبَرْدُ الثَّلج يُؤذيني

I passed by a falcon when the evening breeze blew,

And the icy cold pained me.

فما وَقى عِرْضَهُ مِنى بكسَوَتِه

لاَ بل ولاَ حَسَبٍ دانٍ ولا دينِ

Yet my honor was not protected by his coat,

Nor by lineage or faith.

إن لم يكن لَبَنُ الدَّاياتِ غَيَّرَهُ

عن طبع آبائه الشُّمِّ العَرانينِ

If the milk of noble nurses did not change him

From the nature of his rough Bedouin ancestors,

فَرُبَّما غابَ بعلٌ عن حَلِيلته

فناكها بعض سَوَّاسِ البَرَاذينِ

A husband may sometimes be absent from his wife,

Yet she is loyal, unlike some sly foxes.

وما تَحرَّكَ أيرٌ فامتلا شَبقاً

إلاّ تَحَرُّك عِرْقٌ في است شاهينِ

No stallion ever stirred, filled with desire,

Except the stirring of instinct in a falcon.