خَليلَيَّ عوجا مِنكُما ساعَةً مَعي
عَلى الرَبعِ نَقضِ حاجَةً وَنُوَدِّعُ
My two friends, spare me an hour with you
At the open country, to fulfill a need and bid farewell,
وَلا تَعجَلاني أَن أُلِمَّ بِدمنةٍ
لِعَزَّةَ لاحَت لي بِبَيداءَ بَلقَعِ
Do not hurry me to mount a thin she-camel,
For the dignity that appeared to me in the white desert plain.
وَقولا لِقَلبٍ قَد سَلا راجِعِ الهَوى
وَلِلعَينِ أَذري مِن دُموعِكِ أَو دَعي
And say to a heart that asked love to return
And to an eye, "Shed for me your tears or hold them back!"
فَلا عَيشَ إِلّا مِثلُ عَيشٍ مَضى لَنا
مَصيفاً أَقَمنا فيهِ مِن بَعِ مَربَعِ
For there is no life except a life like one we had-
A summer we spent after the square building.
تَفَرَّقَ أُلّافُ الحَجيجِ عَلى مِنىً
وَشَتَّتَهُم شَحطُ النَوى مَشيَ أَربَعِ
The thousands of pilgrims dispersed over Mina
And were scattered by the pebbles thrown at the pillars.
فَلَم أَرَ داراً مِثلَها دارَ غِبطَةٍ
وَمَلقىً إِذا التَفَّ الحَجيجُ بِمَجمَعِ
So I did not see a house like it, the house of happiness,
Or a place of meeting when the pilgrims gather at the mosque.
أَقَلَّ مُقيماً راضِياً بِمَكانِهِ
وَأَكثَرَ جاراً ظاعِناً لَم يُوَدَّعِ
Staying there made one content in his place,
While most neighbors, not having said farewell, moved away.
فَأَصبَحَ لا تَلقى خِباء عَهِدتَهُ
بِمَضرِبِهِ أَوتادُهُ لَم تُنَزَّعِ
In the morning one cannot find a tent that was pitched
With its pegs and ropes still fixed.
فَشاقوكَ لَمّا وَجَّهوا كُلَّ وِجهَةٍ
سِراعاً وَخَلّوا عَن مَنازِلَ بَلقَعِ
They were hard on you when they all traveled separate ways
Hastily, and left the dwellings of Balqa'.
فَريقانِ مِنهُم سالِكٌ بَطنَ نَخلَةٍ
وَآخَرُ مِنهُم جازِعٌ ظَهرَ تَضرُعِ
Some of them journeying through a palm tree valley
Others traversing the back of an interceding mount,
كَأَنَّ حُمولَ الحَيِّ حينَ تَحَمَّلوا
صَريمَةُ نَخلٍ أَو صَريمَةُ إيدَعِ
Like the camel litters of the living tribe when they moved on,
The cry of a palm tree or the cry of a howdah.
فَإِنَّكَ عُمري هَل أُريكَ ظَعائِناً
غَدَونَ اِفتِراقاً بِالخَليطِ المُوَدَّعِ
My life, shall I show you those who departed
Going their ways early yesterday morning?
رَكِبنَ اِتِّضاعاً فَوقَ كُلِّ عُذافِرٍ
مِنَ العيسِ نَضّاحِ المَعَدَّينِ مُرفِعِ
They rode submissively on nimble camels,
White, running, with outstretched necks.
تُواهِقُ وَاِحتَثَّ الحُداةُ بِطاءَها
عَلى لاحِبٍ يَعلوا الصَياهِبَ مَهيَعِ
Their howdahs swaying on a lover who scales the hills,
Who made the open spaces of Buḥayrah their place,
جَعَلنَ أَراخِيَّ البُحَيرِ مكانَهُ
إِلى كُلِّ قَرٍّ مُستَطيلٍ مُقَنَّعِ
And in them are does, who pasture at night,
Gentle, white, without any sign of being restricted.
وَفيهِنَّ أَشباهُ المَها رَعَتِ المَلا
نَواعِمُ بيضٌ في الهَوى غَيرُ خُرَّعِ
The daughter of Ḍumayrī ‛Izzah shot at me when
The boy finished with what the feathers shooter shoots.
رَمَتكَ اِبنَةُ الضَمرِيِّ عَزَّةُ بِعدَما
أَمَتَّ الصَبِيَّ مِمّا تَريشُ بِأَقَطعِ
She bandies words with me, yet does not understand
Along with miserliness, conversation that twists and turns.
تَغاطَشُ شَكوانا إليها وَلا تَعي
مَعَ البُخلِ أَحناءَ الحَديثِ المُرَجَّعِ
She can be recognized if she gets lost, and guided to her Lord
By a sign of four teats from which she gives milk.
وَتُعرَفُ إِن ضَلَّت فَتُهدى لِرَبِّها
لِمَوضِعِ آلاتٍ مِنَ الطَلعِ أَربَعِ
She is praised at the resting places of the outgoers and dawn visitors
With two drinking bowls which she obtained from the purified drinking bowls.
وَتُؤبَنُ مِن نَصِّ الهَواجِرِ وَالضُحى
بِقِدحَينِ فازا مِن قِداحِ المُقَعقِعِ
When they both reached the utmost extent of their ability
And caused her hair to flow down in tangles and tears...
عَلَيها وَلَمّا يَبلُغا كُلَّ جَهدِها
وَقَد أَشعَراها في أَظَلَّ وَمَدمَعِ
