طَرِبنا حينَ أَدرَكَنا اِدِّكارُ

وَحاجاتٌ عَرَضنَ لَنا كِبارُ

We were delighted when memories overtook us,

And pressing needs befell us, O elders!

لَحِقنَ بِنا وَنَحنُ عَلى ثُمَيلٍ

كَما لَحِقَت بِقائِدِها القِطارُ

They caught up with us while we were on the heights,

As a train catches up with its leader.

فَرَقرَقَتِ النِطافَ عُيونُ صَحبي

قَليلاً ثُمَّ لَجَّ بِها اِنحِدارُ

My friends' eyes brimmed over slightly,

Then collapsed into a downpour.

فَظَلَّت عَينُ أَجلُدِنا مَروحاً

مَروحاً في عَواقِبِهِ اِبتِدارُ

The eye of our most resolute remained hopeful,

Hopeful though its consequences were risky,

كَشَولٍ في مُعَيَّنَةٍ مَروحٍ

يُشَدُّ عَلى وَهِيَّتِها المِرارُ

Like a warrior in a hopeless situation, hopeful

Though bitterness weighs down his weakness.

وَكُنّا جيرَةً بِشِعابِ نَجدٍ

فَحُقَّ البَينُ وَاِنقَطَعَ الجَوارُ

We were neighbors in the valleys of Najd,

Then the distance grew, and the neighborliness ceased.

سَما طَرفي غَداةَ أُثَيفِياتٍ

وَقَد يَهدا التَشَوُّقُ إِذ أَغاروا

I glanced with my eyelids one morning in Uthayfiyat,

When yearning subsided as they departed

إِلى ظُعُنٍ لَأُختِ بَني غِفارٍ

بِكابَةَ حَيثُ زاحَمَها العَقارُ

To the shelter of Bani Ghifar’s sister

At Kabat, where settlements jostled her.

يُرَجِّحنَ الحُمولَ مُصَعِّداتٍ

لِعُكّاشٍ فَقَد يَبِسَ القَرارُ

Carriers balance the loads on the hillsides

For a porter, since the villages had withered.

وَيَمَّمنَ الرِكابَ بَناتِ نَعشٍ

وَفينا عَن مَغارِبِها اِزوِرارُ

The riders headed for the daughters of Nish

While we avoided their sunsets.

نُجومٌ يَرعَوينَ إِلى نُجومٍ

كَما فاءَت إِلى الرُبَعِ الظُؤارُ

Stars lead us to stars

As the Pleiades led to Al-Thurayya constellation.

فَقُلتُ وَقَلَّ ذاكَ لَهُنَّ مِنّي

سَقى بَلَداً حَلَلنَ بِهِ القِطارُ

So I said - and that lessened what I owed them -

"It quenched a land where trains stopped."

رَأَيتُ وَصُحبَتي بِخُناصِراتٍ

حُمولاً بَعدَ ما مَتَعَ النَهارُ

I saw my companions with swaying litters,

Loads, after the day’s joys had ended.

نَئينُ عَلى الرِحالِ وَقَد تَرامَت

لِأَيدي العيسِ مَهلَكَةٌ قِفارُ

Moaning over saddles while to the herdsmen’s hands

Sprawled the wasteland’s expanses, desolate.

كَأَنَّ أَواسِطَ الأَكوارِ فينا

بَنونَ لَنا نُلاعِبُهُم صِغارُ

It was as if, in our bosoms, the epochs

Had built nests for us, and we played with them, little.

فَلَيسَ لِنَظرَتي ذَنبٌ وَلَكِن

سَقى أَمثالَ نَظرَتِيَ الدِرارُ

So my glance was not at fault, but

The likes of my glance the eras had watered.

يَكادُ القَلبُ مِن طَرَبٍ إِلَيهِم

وَمِن طولِ الصَبابَةِ يُستَطارُ

The heart almost swoons from joy towards them,

And from prolonged longing, it is exhausted.

يَظَلُّ مُجَنَّبَ الكَنَفَينِ يَهفو

هُفَوَّ الصَقرِ أَمسَكَهُ الإِسارُ

It remains avoiding the ridges, fluttering

A falcon’s flutter, imprisoned by shackles.

وَفي الحَيِّ الَّذينَ رَأَيتُ خَودٌ

شَموسُ الأُنسِ آنِسَةٌ نَوارُ

In that alive one whom I saw, a cheek

Whose sunshine was intimate, radiant.

بَرودُ العارِضَينِ كَأَنَّ فاها

بُعَيدَ النَومِ عاتِقَةٌ عُقارُ

The coolness of her cheek was as if, after sleep,

Her mouth worked at making medicine.

إِذا اِنخَضَدَ الوِسادُ بِها فَمالَت

مَميلاً فَهوَ مَوتٌ أَو خِطارُ

When the pillow crumpled under her, she leaned

Slanted - either death or peril.

تُرَدُّ بِفَترَةٍ عَضُدَيكَ عَنها

إِذا اِعتَنَقَت وَمالَ بِها اِنهِصارُ

You retract your arms from her slowly

If she embraces, and it tilts into an embrace.

يَكادُ الزَوجُ يَشرَبُها إِذا ما

تَلَقّاها بِنَشوَتِها اِنبِهارُ

The husband almost drinks her up when she

Meets him with her dazed dazzlement.

شَميماً تُنشَرُ الأَحشاءُ مِنهُ

وَحُبّاً لا يُباعُ وَلا يُعارُ

Her scent makes the innards quiver,

And a love that cannot be sold or lent.

تَرى مِنها اِبنَ عَمِّكَ حينَ يُضحي

نَقِىَّ اللَونِ لَيسَ بِهِ غُبارُ

You see in her your cousin when he makes sacrifice,

Pure complexioned, without any soil.

كَوَقفِ العاجِ مَسَّ ذَكِيَّ مِسكٍ

تَجيئُ بِهِ مِنَ اليَمَنِ التِجارُ

Like ivory touched by a pleasant musk

The merchants bring from Yemen.

إِذا نادى المُنادي باتَ يَبكي

حِذارَ الصُبحِ لَو نَفَعَ الحِذارُ

When the caller calls, he starts crying

Beware the dawn, though bewaring does not avail.

وَوَدَّ اللَيلُ زيدَ عَلَيهِ لَيلٌ

وَلَم يُخلَق لَهُ أَبَداً نَهارُ

And night wishes an extra night added to it,

For it was never created a day.

يَرُدُّ تَنَفُّسَ الصُعَداءِ حَتّى

يَكونَ مَعَ الوَتينِ لَهُ قَرارُ

It keeps back the panting breath of the sleepless one

Until it settles down with the pillow as a home.

كَأَنَّ سَبيكَةً صَفراءَ شيفَت

عَلَيها ثُمَّ ليثَ بِها الخِمارُ

As if a yellow ingot

Which a lion then stamped with his seal.

يَبيتُ ضَجيعُها بِمَكانِ دَلٍّ

وَمِلحٍ مالِدَرَّتِهِ غِرارُ

Her lover spends the night in a trace of musk

And salt, whose pearls have melted.