لِمَن طَلَلٌ وَخَيمٌ قَد عَرينا

وَسُفعٌ حَولَ أَورَقَ قَد صَلِينا

For whom are ruins and tents that we have stripped bare,

And branches surrounding which we have prayed?

أُوارَ النارِ حَتّى هُنَّ جُونٌ

وَلَم يُخلَقنَ يَومَ خُلِقنَ جُونا

Fires were lit until the cooking-pots boiled,

And they were not created as empty pots on the day they were made.

عَفاها القَطرُ أَزماناً وَرِيحٌ

كَساها بَعدَ ساكِنِها دَرينا

The rain left them for years, and a wind

Covered them after their dwellers had forsaken them.

تَعاقَبَها فَقَد بَلِيَت كُرُورٌ

مِنَ العَصرَينِ مُوحِشَةً سِنِينا

Ages have succeeded each other; they have experienced many moons

Desolate for years from both eras.

بِشَرجِ الهَضبَتَينِ وَحَيثُ لاقى

رُقاقُ السَهلِ مِن خُوعى الحُزُونا

By the slopes of the two plateaus, and where

The softness of the valley meets the sadness of the bending sand dunes,

عَرَفتُ بِها مَنازِلَ ذَكَّرَتني

مَعالِمُ آيها شَجَناً دَفِينا

I recognized the dwellings that reminded me

Of their features - deep yearning.

وَآياتُ الرُسُومِ مُذَكَّرَاتٌ

أُمُوراً قَد مَضَينَ وَقَد نُسِينا

And the markings of the diagrams are memories

Of events now passed and forgotten.

وَمَجلِسِ أَربَعٍ يَشكِينَ لَيلاً

إِلَيَّ مِنَ الصَبابَةِ ما لَقِينا

And a gathering of four complaining at night

To me of adventures we encountered in our youth.

فَأَبدَيتُ الحَديثَ حَديثَ نَفسي

وَما قَد كُنتُ قَد أَضمَرتُ حيناً

So I spoke the speech of my own soul

And what I had harbored silently long ago

مِنَ الشَوقِ المُبَرِّحِ إِن شَوقي

لَهُنَّ يَكُونُ أُهوَنُهُ رَصِينا

Of joyful longing - though my longing for them

Would be slighted as feeble.

خَرائِدُ ما خَرَجنَ إِلَيَّ حَتّى

جَعَلنَ لِمَن يَخَفنَ بِنا عُيُونا

Whisperings of those who went out to me until

They made eyes for whoever feared us.

فَأَخفَينَ الَّذي أَجمَعنَ لَمّا

أَرَدنَ لُقَيَّنا حَتّى خَفِينا

So they hid what they had gathered when

They wanted to meet me until we were hidden.

كَأَنَّ دَلِيلَهُنَّ بِهنَّ يَهدى

جَوازئَ مِن نِعاجِ الرَملِ عِينا

As if their guide led them

Through the thickets of gazelles in the sand.

فِجِئنَ وَما يَكَدنَ إِذا اِرجَحَنَّت

بِها الأَعجازُ مِن ثِقَلٍ يَنُونا

They came suddenly when their rear parts bent

With the heavy weight they carried.