لِمَنَ الهوادجُ والقلاصُ الوُجّدُ

ولمن يرى تلك الخواتم واليدُ

Whose are the howdahs and the love-stricken young she-camels?

And whose the hand one sees, adorned with all those rings?

بكروَا بليلَى والركائب ترتمي

تحت الهوادج والحُداةُ تغَرّد

They set out at dawn with Layla, the mounts surging onward

beneath the howdahs, while the camel-drivers sang.

أوْمتْ منِ الِسُجف المنيع بإنملٍ

من لين ملمسِها تُحلّ وتعقدُ

From behind the forbidding curtain she beckoned with fingertips

so soft to the touch, they loosen knots and bind them.

وتنسّمتْ فإذا المعنبر فائح

وتبسمت فإذا الأقاح مبدد

She breathed—and suddenly ambergris spread its perfume;

she smiled—and suddenly daisies lay scattered.

غورية لاح الوميض لأهلها

فتذكروا نجدض الحجاز وانْجَدوا

A woman of the Ghawr: lightning flashed before her people,

and they remembered Najd of the Hijaz and climbed toward its heights.

أتبعتُهم نظرَ المِرُيب ومقلَةٌ

تهمي النجيع وزفرة تتصَعّدُ

I followed them with the mistrustful man’s gaze, with an eye

streaming blood, while a sigh kept rising.

ودعوت يا ربّ القباب بحق من

يُدني إليّ مزاركم لا تبعدوا

I called: O Lord of the domed pavilions, by the right of Him

who brings the place of your visit close to me—do not go far.

فلرب ليلٍ قد سهرت على اللوى

ومُسامِري لَدْنُ المعَاطف اغيدُ

Many a night I have lain awake at al-Liwā,

my evening companion supple-bodied and graceful.

بتنا ندير على تَورّدِ خده

كاس اللجين أذيبَ فيه العسجَدُ

We spent the night passing, over the rose-bloom of his cheek,

a silver cup with molten gold dissolved within.

دبتْ دبيبَ النمل في اجدادنا

فرِقابُنا من شُرِبها تتأودُ

It crept through our bodies with the creeping of ants,

and from drinking it our necks began to sway.

صِحْنَا إلى الأيام مَا شئت أصنعي

ذا بيتُ مسعودِ وذاك محمّد

We cried out to the days: Do whatever you will!

Here is Masʿūd’s house, and there stands Muḥammad.

حَدقيّةٌ أفعالُه سَعْديَةٌ

عكيّةٌ تُنمى إليها السؤدَد

Ḥadaqite are his deeds, Saʿdite—

ʿAkkite; to those deeds high glory traces its line.

الخيلُ شعثُ في المرابط حولهَ

والسمْر تعسلُ والرمَاح تجَرّد

The horses stand unkempt in the tethering grounds around him,

while brown spear-shafts quiver and lances are bared.

هم يحسبون بأنّني أنْسَاه

لو أنني بُدلت منه سواه

They think that I shall forget him,

even if another were given me in his place,

أو أن قلبي حال عن ميثاقه

لا والذي هو في السماء إله

or that my heart could turn away from its covenant.

No—by Him who is God in heaven.

رشْاءٌ إذا غِمَدت سيوفُ رجاله

يوم المغار كفَتْهم عَيْنَاه

A gazelle-fawn—when his men’s swords are sheathed;

on a day of raids, his two eyes suffice them.

متقسمٌ نُصفان أسفُلُه نقاً

تحت القضيب وبانة اعلاه

Fashioned in two halves: below, a mound of sand

beneath the slender waist; above, a bān-tree’s bough.

لا أنسَ ليلةَ زارني في بُرده

نشوانَ نعساناً يَجرٌ رداه

I cannot forget the night he visited me in his cloak,

wine-flushed and drowsy, trailing his mantle.

فقطفت من خدَّيه ورداً طالما

قطرتْ سيوفُ الهند دون جناه

From his cheeks I plucked roses, though so often

Indian blades had dripped blood before their gathering.

وَضَمَمْتُه فكانما هو يوسفٌ

وافى على العهد القديم أباه

I embraced him, and it was as though he were Joseph

returning faithfully to his father under the ancient promise.

ما كان لي شجنٌ ببلدة عَامرٍ

لولاه حلّ بأرضهم لولاه

The town of ʿĀmir was not in itself the cause of my sorrow—

were it not for him who dwelt in their land, were it not for him.

ومُبَاحثٍ لي ما العقيق وما اللوى

قلت العقيق كعهدنا وَلِواه

To one who questioned me, “What are al-ʿAqīq and al-Liwā?”

I said, “Al-ʿAqīq is as we knew it, and al-Liwā too—

أغصانه مخضرّة ورياضُه

مُفتَرَّة ونسيمُه وصَبَاه

its branches green, its meadows

smiling open, its breeze and its east wind.”