لولا انتهائي لم أُطع نهي النُهى

أَيَّ مَدىً يطلبُ من جاز المدى

Had I not been finite, I would not have obeyed the prohibition of prohibitions

How far does one who has surpassed limits ask to go?

إِن كنتُ اقصرتُ فما اقصرَ قل

بُ دامياً تدميه ألحاظُ الدُمى

If I fell short, no heart is as short as my heart

That bleeds constantly from the glances of the tearful

ومقلة إِن مقلت أهل الغضا

أغضت وفي اجفانها جمر الغضى

And an eyelid, if I winked, to the people of absence

I winked while in its eyelids are the embers of anguish

وكم ظِباء رُعتُها أَلحاظُها

أسرعُ في الأنفس من حدِّ الظُبا

And how many gazelles I shepherded, their glances

Quicker in souls than the edge of a sword

وكلَّما ازدَدنَ قُوى أجفانها

ضَعفاً تقوَّينَ على ضَعف القُوى

And the more their eyelids grew in strength

The weaker they made the strength of powers

أسرع من حرف إلى جر ومن

حبّ إلى حبة قلبٍ وحشا

Quicker than a letter to caesura and from

Love to a grain of a heart-stricken heart

قضاعةُ بن مالكِ بن حمِرٍ

ما بعدَهُ للمرتقين مُرتقى

The loftiness of Quss ibn Sa`ida ibn `Amir

After it, no ascent remains for climbers to climb

وطالَ ما طللتُ دمعي في طلو

لٍ خَفِيَت عن البِلى من البِلَى

Long has my tear flowed in a night

Whose traces the ravages of time have hidden from time’s ravages

تناهبَت أيدي الهواءِ رَسمَها

نَهبَ الهوى أنفُسَ أبناءِ الهوى

The hands of air have snatched its features

Passion has snatched the souls of the passionate

فاقتَسَمَتها السارياتُ مِثلَ ما

تقتسمُ المأسورَ أسبابُ الأَسى

So the Pleiades have divided it as

The causes of anguish divide the captive

فهَيَ أثافٍ ما ثلاثٌ لم يزل

بها الحَيا حتى أَماتَها الحيا

It is a howdah whose riders have not ceased

With life in it until death ended its life

وعَطفَتا نُؤيٍ كنُونٍ عُرِّقَت

أو صُدُغٍ عُقرِبَ أَو أَيمٍ سَعَى

And a flexed Nun, or a Sa`d with a dot under it, or a straight Mim went on

Or a thigh of a scorpion, or a hand that journeyed

وأَشعَثٍ لم تُبقِ منه المورُ إِلا

مثلَ ما أَبقَت من الصَبرِ النَوى

And disheveled hair that has left of it only

As much as patience has left of the kernel

مَنازِلٌ أَنزالُ من يَنزِلُها

وَجدٌ ودمعٌ وغَرامٌ وجوى

Abodes where those who camped there found

Affection, tears, passion and fervor

مَمحُوَّةُ الأَطلالِ كالطِرسِ امَّحى

مُوحشِةٌ كالشَيبِ بالحُورِ سَطا

Whose ruins have been erased like writing

Desolate like white hair in a brunette

كأَنَّها الإِلفُ جَفا أو نَبوَة الدَ

هرِ نَبا أَو كَبوَةُ الجَدِّ كَبا

As if it were intimacy that parted or the settlement of fate

That settled, or the bending of ancient times that bent

وكم ليالٍ قد لقيتُ هَولَها

بِهِمَّةٍ فوقَ السماءِ كالسَما

And how many nights whose terrors I faced

With ambition above the sky like the sky

طالَت دَياجيها فَخلنا أنَّها

تعطِفُ منهنَّ علينا ما مضى

Its darkness prolonged so we thought

It was relenting to us from them what has passed

وفي يميني صارمٌ غراره

أقطَعُ من يوم فراقٍ ونوى

And in my right hand a sharp sword

With which I sever a day of parting and resolve

إِن سُلَّ أو شيم فمثل البرق

في الغيم اذا الغيمُ سَرى

If asked or insulted, like lightning

In the cloud when the cloud flowed

شقائقٌ مثل خدودٍ نُقشت

شواربٌ بالمسك فيها ولحى

Daisies like cheeks engraved

With whiskers in which there is musk and beard

كأنّما الناطحُ عينا شاخصٍ

يضعف عن تغميضها من الضيا

As if the buttress were the eyes of one staring intensely

Too weak to close them from the light

كأنّما البُطين في آثاره

طالبُ ثأرٍ عند عاتٍ قد عتا

As if Al-Butayn in its tracks

Were seeking vengeance from an assailant who had assailed

كأنما النجم الثريا عَلَمٌ

أبيض يعلو عَلَماً حين علا

As if an-Najm ath-Thurayya were a white standard

Rising above a standard when it rose

كأنّما التابع نارٌ شبَّها

بنو سبيلٍ في طريقٍ تصطلى

As if at-Tabi` were a fire lit by

Wayfarers on a path getting light

كأنّما الهقعة راس جواد او أثافٍ

وسط ربعٍ قد عفا

As if al-Huq`ah were the head of a steed or a howdah

In a quarter that has healed

كأنّما الهنعة لمّا طلعت

مقلة صبٍّ لم تبن من البكا

As if al-Han`ah when it rose

Were an eyelid shedding tears not yet dry from crying

مقبلة على الذراع تشتكي

شكوى محبٍّ ضاق ذرعاً فاشتكى

Inclining on the arm complaining

The complaint of a lover overwhelmed so he complained

كأنّما النثرة أثر نَمَشٍ

أو كَلَفٍ على الخدود قد علا

As if an-Nathrah were the trace of an ibex

Or a calf that has mounted the cheeks

كأنّما الجبهة في آثاره

سيل على آثار عقب قد سرى

As if al-Jabhah in its markings

Were a torrent over the tracks of a heel that flowed

كأنّما الزُّبرة حبّان فذا

من سائر الناس بذا قد اكتفى

As if az-Zubrah were two beloveds who

Sufficed with the belovedness of all people

كأنّما الغَفر جناحٌ مائلٌ

أو عُنُقٌ نحو حديثٍ قد صغا

As if al-Ghafr were an inclined wing

Or a neck leaning to a hadith that listened

كأنما الاكليل اكليل على

رأس عروسٍ يوم عرسٍ تُجتلى

As if al-Aakil were a coronet on

The head of a bride on her wedding day adorned

تتبعه نعائم كأنّها

نعائم ترتع في ارض فلا

Followed by stars that seem

Stars grazing in a land of neither hills nor dales

ولاحت البلدة كالبلدة قد

بادت اذا الربع خلا

And the land shone like a land that

Perished when the quarter became empty

كأنّما الأسعُدُ حين اتَّسَقَت

روض ثغور بالعيون ترتوي

As if as-Sa`d, when the Pleiades rose

Were a meadow of thorns watered by eyes

يقدمها ذابحها كهاربٍ

أو طالبٍ يحذر فوت ما ابتغى

He brings them forward like a slaughterer

Or a seeker fearing to miss what he sought

ولاح سَعدُ بُلَعٍ كضاحكٍ

أو كارعٍ يكرع في كأس لمى

And Sa`d Bul` appeared laughing

Or drinking from a cup of wine

مسابقٌ في سيره السعدَ الذي

سعوده مستحسنٌ حين يرى

Racing in its course the Sa`d which

Its rising, pleasing to behold when seen

كظبية ما بين خشفين لها

أو كحبيبٍ في رقيبين اغتدى

Like a gazelle between two sinuous dunes for it

Or a lover between two censors bold

وذو الخبا

من غريمٍ قد توارى واختفى

And Thurayya

From an enemy that hid and disappeared

واقبل الفرغ إلى الفرغ كما

أقبل عطشان إلى عذب روى

And the Empty Quarter came to the Empty Quarter as

A thirsty man comes to fresh water that sated

كأنّما الحوت اذا ما طلعت

حوت على لجة بحرٍ قد طفا

As if al-Hut when it rose

Were a whale in a turbulent sea that churned

كأنّ صوت الرعد فيها قارئ

عارضه تتعتع فيما قرا

As if the sound of thunder in it were a reader

Whose echo murmurs in what he recited

ونرجسٍ كأنَّه نواظرٌ

يَقطُرنَ عذباً بارداً على الظما

And a narcissus as if it were glances

Sprinkling gently cool on eyelids

إذا بدا الطلُّ عليه خِلتَه

غرقى عيونٍ في بحورٍ من بُكا

When the rise of the crescent showed its deficiency

Eyes drowned in seas of tears