دونَ الحِمى والرَّملِ من يَبرينه

سربُ تَصيدُ الأُسدَ أعيُنُ عِينهِ

Beyond the fever and sand, who will redeem him?

A flock that hunts the lion, the eyes of its eye.

مِن كلِّ جائلةِ الوشاحِ يزينُها

قدٌّ يميلُ معَ النَّسيمِ ولينهِ

Of every herd of ailments that adorn it

A nape that sways with the breeze and its tenderness.

وأغنَّ مرهوبِ اللِّحاظِ إذا سَطا

كانت ظباهُ البيضَ سودُ جفونهِ

And the warbler of the armored feathers, when it flew

Were the antelopes of the egg the blacks of its eyelids.

ولعَ الصبِّا بقَوامِه فأمالَه

ولعَ الصبَّا يومَ الحِمى بغُصونهِ

And the zephyr leaned into his stature and inclined him

And the zephyr on the day of fever into its branches.

يا مُستريحَ القلبِ مِن ألمِ الجوى

حاشاكَ من دائي ومرِّ دفينهِ

Oh heart's respite from the pain of passion

Far be you from my malady and the bitterness of its burial.

لا يغرُرنَّكَ حيُّ وادي المنحنى

فالسمهريَّةُ شرعٌ من دونهِ

Let not the living wadi of winding deceive you

For the Samharis are a law of their own.

إياكَ عن ذاك المحلِّ وإن حَلا

لأخي الصبَّابةِ فيهَ ريبُ مَنونهِ

Beware of that place, even if it allures

My brother the young man, doubt creeps in his intention.

فحمامُه كبُزاتهِ وظِباؤهُ

كأسُودهِ وكِناسُه كعَرينهِ

For his pigeons are like his disgrace, his antelopes

Like his lions, and his companion like his den.