لا تسلني غداة نعمانَ مَا بي

وترفّق فليس حالُك حالي

Do not ask me tomorrow about Numan’s bliss

And be gentle, for your state is not my state

مَدمعي سَافحٌ ودَمْعُكَ راقِ

كبدي موثقٌ وقلبُك خالي

My tears flow and your tear is still

My liver is tied and your heart is empty

لُمتني في الهوى ولو ذُقتَ ما ذُقْتُ

ضللت الهدى كعهد ضلالي

You have blamed me in love, and if you had tasted what I tasted

You would have lost direction like my days of misguidance

مَا وقوفي على منازلِ ليْلى

وسُؤالي وما يُفيدُ سُؤالي

I do not stand at Layla’s dwellings

And my asking is of no use, nor is my question

حالفتَني وخالفتني ومالتْ

عنْ وُصَولي واعرضت عن وِصالي

You have sworn oaths to me and broken them and turned

Away from my arrival and ignored my union

وحمتني خيالهَا في منامي

حفظ اللهُ طيفَ ذاك الخيالِ

And her imagination has protected me in my sleep

May God protect the image of that imagination

أه من فرقها وأه عليها

يومَ شدوا الجمال للترحالِ

Oh how I suffer from her separation, oh for her sake

The day they packed the camel for travel

بكَروا بالشموس تحت الدياجي

وسروا بالجَمَال فوق الجِمَالِ

They set out early with the suns under the canopies

And traveled with the camel over the dunes

أرْخصَ البينَ كلّ دمعٍ مصونٍ

وكذا البينُ مُرْخِصٌ كلَّ غالي

I have made the separation cheaper, every hidden teardrop

And so the separation is cheap, however dear

يا سميري من حريمةَ شِيْمَا

وَامضاً للبُوَيْرق المتلآلي

Oh my friend from Shima’s protected place

Returning to the shedding burqa

وأعيْدَا ليَ الحديثَ الذي ك

ان لليلى على اللوى والمطال

And restore to me the tale that was

For Layla is above passion and reproach

والليالي التي مضين بسَلْعٍ

آه واحسرتي لتلك الليالي

And the nights that passed with commerce

Oh how I regret those nights

وأسال العيسَ كمْ أطرت كُلاها

لهباً بالوجيف والأرْقَالِ

And ask the young man, how long did he spend with them

A flame with firewood and burning coal

كلّما هَوَّنَتْ وقلْتُ رِدى بي

رمَع الخِصبَ أُنشطَتْ من عقال

Whenever it softened and I said my cure is near

The fertile place sparked more than a mare in heat

ذكرت من مُعَيبدٍ خير مَرْعيَ

ترتعيه وَعذبَ ماءٍ زُلاَلِ

I remembered from Mu’ayyad the best pasture

That she grazes, and the sweet flowing water

ورحَاباً فديتُها منْ رِحابٍ

وظلالاً فديتُها مِنْ ظِلالِ

And open spaces that I ransom with spaces

And shade that I ransom with shade

يمنيّ مُعَيْبديُّ إذَا ما

عَضَّني الدهرُ قال مَالُك مَالي

My Mu’ayyadi friend, whenever

Hard times befall me, says what is wrong with you

سَاد علياء أشعر ابنة كهلان

وساد الجميع قبل إكتهال

Sa’da the bright daughter of Kuhlan presided

And she presided over all before maturity

من أبي بكر حاز ذاك وعب

د الله والشَّبْلُ مشبُهُ الرّئبال

From Abu Bakr this was attained, and Obed

Abdullah and the cub resembling the old lion

من بلالِ بن بُرْدةَ ورث المج

د ومَنْ ذا كبرُدةٍ وبلالِ

From Bilal bin Bardah the glory was inherited

And who is like Bardah and Bilal