حلفتُ بشُعثٍ من نِزارٍ تعلّقوا

بأستار مرفوع الذّلاذلِ مائلِ

I swore by the disheveled hair of a gazelle they clung to

The curtains of one towering with lowered banners leaning

تلاقوا عليه ثائرين فأعرضوا

بأرجائه عن أخذ تلك الطّوائلِ

They met upon it raging yet they refused

To seize those slender sand grouse around its fringes

وما رشفوا من صخرةٍ بشفاههمْ

وما مسحوا من ركنه بالأنامِلِ

Nor did they sip from a rock with their lips

Nor did they touch any part of it with their palms

وما عقروا بالخَيفِ تجري شعابُه

بما بذلوه من سديسٍ وبازلِ

Nor did they hamstring she-camels roaming its valleys

With the efforts they exerted, worthless and feeble

وأيدي المطايا إذ وقفن عشيّةً

على عرفاتٍ بعد طيّ المنازلِ

And the hands of the riding camels when they halted one evening

At Arafat after traversing the encampments

لحبُّكِ يا ظباءُ في باطن الحشا

وإن رغم الواشي لطيفُ المداخلِ

My love for you, O gazelle, is in the innermost thicket

Though the watcher begrudges the gentle access

وما أخلقتْ منه اللّيالي وإنّه

جديدٌ على مرّ المدى المتطاولِ

The nights did not create it, yet it is

Refreshing throughout the prolonged extent

ويُعجبني منك الحديثُ إِخالُهُ

صحيحاً وإنْ حدّثتنا بالأباطلِ

And I admire in you the conversation, its insertion

Being correct even when you told us false tales

كأنّي وقد نازعتني القولَ قاطفٌ

من الصّبحِ نُوّاراً ببعضِ الخمائلِ

As if, as the words competed with me, a picker

Was plucking some immature dates at dawn