غدونا وطرفُ الليلِ وسنانُ غابرُ

وقد نزل الأصابح والليل سائرُ

We set out at dawn, when night's hem was fading,

As dawn broke and night took its leave.

بأجدلَ من حُمر الصقور مؤدَّب

وأكرمُ ما جرَّبتَ منها الأحامر

With a smooth-gaited steed, chestnut as a hawk,

The finest I've tried of racers.

جريءٌ على قتل الظباء وأنني

ليعجبني أن يقتل الوحش طائرُ

Bold to slaughter gazelles, yet I delight

To see the wild beast take wing.

قصير الذنابى والقُدامى كأنها

قوادم نسرٍ أو سيوف بواتر

Short-tailed, compact, as though his forelegs

Were an eagle's talons or Indian blades.

ورُقِّشِ منه جؤجؤٌ فكأنما

أعارته أعجام الحروفِ الدفاترُ

His flanks are dappled as if the scrolls

Of calligraphy lent him their patterned pages.

وما زالت بالأضمار حتى صنعتهُ

وليس يحوز السبق إلا الضوامر

He kept to the valley-beds until I shaped him,

None can outstrip him but the full-moon racer.

وتحمله منا أكفٌّ كريمةٌ

كما زُهِيَت بالخاطبين المنابر

He bears me onward, held in honored hands,

As pulpit platforms are graced by the preacher.

فعنَّ لنا من جانب السفح ربربٌ

على سَنَنٍ تستنُّ فيه الجآذر

From a hillside a small flock sprang up

On paths well-trodden where sheep gather.

فجَلّى وحُلَّت عقدة السير فانتحى

لأولها إذ أمكنته الأواخر

He pulled clear and loosened the knot of his pace—

The lead ones, when he got among them, scattered.

يحثُّ جناحيه على حرِّ وجهه

كما فصِّلت فوق الخدود المغافر

His wings churning the air by his cheeks

As turbans' crepelike folds flutter free.

فما تمَّ رجعُ الطرفِ حتى رأيتُها

مصرَّعة تهوي إليها الخناجر

Scarcely had my gaze flickered back when I saw

The flock studded with blades plunging among them.

كذلك لذاتي وما نالَ لذةً

كطالب صيدٍ ينكفي وهو ظافر

Even so is my delight as I close to pursue,

Like a hunter exulting, sure of his quarry!