أَنِاظِرُ الوَصْلُ أَمْ غادٍ فَمَصْرُومُ

أَمْ كُلُّ دَيْنِكَ مِنْ دَهْمَاءَ مَغْرُومُ

I watch for union - has it come or gone unnoticed,

Or does all your debt stem from unrequited passion?

أَمْ مَا تَذَكَّرُ مِنْ دَهْمَاءَ إِذْ طَلَعَتْ

نَجْدَيْ مَرِيعٍ وقَدْ شَابَ المَقَادِيمُ

Do you not recall that ardour when it first arose

In the upland pastures while the riders were still youths?

هَلْ عَاشِقٌ نَالَ مِنْ دَهْمَاءَ حَاجَتَهُ

في الجَاهِليَّةِ قَبْلَ الدِّينِ مَرْحُومُ

Did ever a lover gain his heart's desire from ardour

In pagan days before the Faith of old was spurned?

بَيْضُ الأَنُوقِ بِرَعْمٍ دُونَ مَسْكَنِهَا

وبِالأَبَارِقِ مِنْ طِلْحَامض مَرْكُومُ

The whiteness of the sand-grouse with their tufted crests

Among their dwellings, their plumage dappled and barred,

وطَفْلَةٍ غَبيْر جُبَّاءٍ ولاَ نَصَفٍ

مِنْ سِرِّ أَمْثَالِهَا بَادٍ ومَكْتُومُ

And a land-turtle, dun and mottled, nothing of

Such rarities, now lost and hid, was then forsworn.

خَوْدٌ تَلَبَّسُ إِلْبَابُ الرِّجَالِ بِهَا

مُعْطىً قَلِيلاً عَلى بُخْلٍ ومَحْرُومُ

A wench the men's cloaks were content to wrap themselves in,

Though little given, how miserly and how debarred!

عَانَقْتُهَا فَانْثَنَتْ طَوْعَ العِنَاقِ كَمَا

مَالتْ بِشَارِبِهَا صَهْبَاءُ خُرْطُومُ

I clasped her, she was pliant to my clasp, bending as bends

The hissing adder to the charm the charmers ply.

صِرْفٌ تَرَقْرَقُ في النَّاجُودِ نَاِطلُهَا

بالْفُلْفُلِ الجَوْنِ والرُّمَّانِ مَخْتُومُ

A creature full of quality, whose glances run

With pepper-bland and pomegranate – guarded ever!

يَمُجُّهَا أَكْلَفُ الإِسْكَابِ وَافَقَهُ

أَيْدِي الهَبَانِيقِ بِالمَثْنَاةِ مَعْكُومُ

Her twisting sides the pleats of her gown constrain

When her soft fingers plait it in double thickness.

كأَنَّهَا مَارِنُ العِرْنِينَ مُفْتَصَلٌ

مِنَ الظِّبَاءِ عَلَيْهِ الوَدْعُ مَنْظُومُ

She is like one of the wild cows with coat dappled,

Parted from the wild cows, and now to milking brought.

مُقَلَّدٌ قُضُبَ الرَّيْحَانِ ذُو جُدَدٍ

في جَوْزِهِ مِنْ نِجَارِ الأَدْمِ تَوْسِيمُ

Adorned with sprigs of basil, patterned with the marks

Of tattoo in indigo upon his flexing boughs.

مِمَّا تَبَنَّى عَذَارَى الحَيِّ آنَسَهُ

مَسْحُ الأَكُفِّ وإِلْبَاسٌ وتَنْوِيمُ

What girls not born to him yet relish in him -

The smoothing of the hands, the robes, the lullabies;

مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا نَزَّ تُزْجِيهِ مُرَشَّحَةٌ

أَخْلَى تِيَاسٌ عَلَيْهَا فَالبَرَاعِيمُ

Then, after she has bared her leg to suckle him,

His little shirt leaves nothing of it covered up.

لا سَافِرُ اللَّحْمِ مَدْخُولٌ ولاَ هَبِجٌ

كَاسي العِظَامِ لَطِيفُ الكَشْحِ مَهْضُومُ

Her flesh not coarse, no glutton she, delicate boned, hollow flicked;

A night the hue of elephants, the pleiades remaking it;

وليْلَةٍ مِثْلِ لَوْنِ الفِيلِ غَيَّرهَا

طُمْسُ الكَوَاكِبِ والبِيدُ الدَّيَامِيمُ

I taxed her, on her walk, to sway, as swaying goes

A litter-camel, when the housings are star-embroidered.

كَلَّفْتُهَا عَنْدَلاً في مَشْيِهَا دَفَقٌ

تَفْرِي الفَرِيَّ إذِا امْتَدَّ البَلاَعيِمُ

At fault therein, though dimly sensed, her guidance was

The Bear, that sets in motion still the Pointers' dance.

فِيهَا إذَا الشَّرَكُ المَجْهُولُ أَخْطَأَهُ

أُمُّ الأَدِلاَّءِ واغْبَرَّ الأَيَادِيمُ

She spurned my tenderness; I turned it back on her;

My swordblade intimate with all her alleys is.

مُعَوَّلٌ حِينَ يَسْتَوْلِي بِرَاكِبِهِ

خَرْقٌ كَأَنَّ مَطَايَا سَفْرِهِ هِيمُ

Such is my wont with her, to pen her in, and keep

Her limbs from rest, her person perched and watching.

بَاتَتْ عَلَى ثَفِنٍ لأُمٍ مَرَاكِزُهُ

جَافَى بِهِ مُسْتَعِدَّاتٌ أَطَامِيمُ

The mounts from 'Anbar, never have their girths been loosed,

Their sturdy leather polished and their cinches clasped.

غَيْرَى عَلَى الشَّجِعَاتِ العُوجِ أَرْجُلُهَا

إِذَا تَفَاضَلَتِ البُزْلُ العَلاَكِيمُ

Amid a living tribe's domain they scorn the butcher; yet

To neighbour and to guest they are a flock of Demons.

يَهْوِي لَهَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهَا وأَرْجُلِهَا

إِذَا اشْفَتَرَّ الحَصَى حُمْرٌ مَلاَئِيمُ

True men, when by the matter they were put to proof,

Their defenders' hands shed blood that was forbidden.

رَضْخَ الإِمَاءِ النَّوَى رَدَّتْ نَوَازِيَهُ

إِذَا اسْتَدَرَّتْ بِأَيْدِيهَا المَلاَدِيمُ

Firm in the knowledge that man's wealth will follow him,

A duty on the righteous few forever binding.

إِنْ يَنْقُصِ الدَّهْرِ مِنِّي فَالْفَتَى غَرَضٌ

لِلدَّهْرِ مِنْ عُودِهِ وَافٍ ومَثْلُومُ

A frame like sapling trees of Qar, smooth-skinned, with pliant

Waist; amongst the girls a very shoot of green.

وإِنْ يَكُنْ ذَاكَ مِقْدَاراً أُصِبْتُ بِهِ

فَسِيرَةُ الدَّهْرِ تَعْوِيجُ وتَقْوِيمُ

As if what lies between his flanks and breast were wrought

Of intertwisted Rod and Cord well trodden down.

مَا أَطْيَبَ العَيْشَ لَوْ أَنَّ الفَتَى حَجَرٌ

تَنْبُو الحَوادِثُ عَنْهُ وَهْوَ مَلْمُومُ

With a Khorasan-forged shield no swordblade's edge has pierced,

The choice of heroes for their uprights and their bosses.

لاَ يُحْرِزُ المَرْءَ أَنْصَارٌ ورَابِيَةٌ

تَأْبَى الهَوَانَ إِذَا عُدَّ الجَرَاثِيمُ

I made him to the fore on many a hill and flat

Where the wild asses bray and the sandgrouse in numbers.

لاَ تَمْنَعُ المَرْءَ أَحْجَاءُ البِلاَدِ ولاَ

تُبْنَى لَهُ في السَّمَواتِ السَّلاَلِيمُ

With hooves like sieves, the legs of all the donkeys there

Shed their old shoes whene'er the smooth rocks split their nails.

فَقَدْ أُكَثِّرُ لِلْمَوْلَى بِحَاجَتِهِ

وقَدْ أَرُدُّ عَلَيْهِ وَهْوَ مَظْلُومُ

Between her hands and feet it comes to rest, what time

The worn stones crumble under russet stains of blood.

حَتَّى يَنُوءَ بِمَا قَدَّمْتُ مِنْ حَسَنٍ

إِنَّ المَوَالِي مَحْمُودٌ ومَذْمُومُ

I roughed him up, a guide across a barren plain,

Where the birds haunt in flocks, to a deserted ruin,

وأُنْبِهُ الخِرْقَ لَمْ يَلْمِسْ بِمَضْجَعِهِ

كَأَنَّهُ مِنْ قِتَالِ السَّيْرِ مَأْمُومُ

Like sieves the donkeys' hooves, their toenails shed

There to the smooth stones, when the eroded descend.

ويُنْفِرُ النِّيبَ سَيْفِي بَيْنَ أَسْوُقِهَا

لَمْ يَبْقَ مِنْ سِرِّهَا إِلاَّ شَرَاذِيمُ

Of diverse colours, from such company cut off,

A piebald black-and-white, spineless and humpbacked,

فَذَاكَ دأْبِي بِهَا حَالاً وأَحْبِسُهَا

يَسْعَى بِأوْصَالِهَا الشُّعْثُ المَقَارِيمُ

Until in haste I sped to serve my Lord with gifts

Of Rod and Cord well twisted into his cheekpiece.

مِنْ عاتِقِ النَّبْع لَمْ تُغْمَزْ مَواصِمُهُ

حُذَّ المَتَاقَةِ أَغْفَالٌ وَمَوْسومُ

As though a wanderer begging for the appointed time

Of 'Abd Manaf, when the battle was enjoined.

في دَارِ حَيٍّ يُهِينُونَ الِّلحَامَ وهُمْ

لِلجَارِ والضَّيْفِ يَغْشَاهُمْ مَكَارِيمُ

He folds around his guardians in the shadow of his mount

A day God-times at al-Gawsa green and blessed.

فِتْيَانُ صِدْقٍ إِذَا مَا الأَمْرُ جَدَّ بِهِمْ

أَيْدِي حَوَاطِبِهِمْ دَامٍ ومَكْلُومُ

So Safra's thorns were mute, their points concerted in

Assault, ringstraked with the knots his reins had twisted.

قَدْ أَيْقَنُوا أَنَّ مَالَ المَرْءِ يَتْبَعُهُ

حَقٌّ عَلَى صَالِحِ الأَقْوَامِ مَعْلُومُ

A strainer for the wine that had been dregs he is;

None call on him when the howdahs are uproaded.

وهَيْكَلٍ كشِجَارِ القَرِّ مُطَّرِدٍ

في مِرْفَقَيْهِ وفي الأَنْسَاءِ تَجْرِيمُ

كَأَنَّ مَا بَيْنَ جَنْبَيهِ ومَنْقَبِهَ

مِنْ جَوْزِهِ وَمَقطّ القُنْبِ مَلْطُومُ

بِتُرْسِ أَعْجَمَ لَمْ تَنْخَرْ مَثَاقِبُهُ

مِمَّا تَخَيَّرُ في آطَامِهَا الرُّومُ

عَرَّجْتُهُ رَائداً في عَازِبٍ عَرِدٍ

جُنَّ النَّوَاصِفُ فِيهِ واليَحَامِيمُ

مِثْلُ الطَراِبيلِ أُحْدَانُ الحَمِيرِ بِهِ

تَفْلِي مَعَارِفَهَا الجُونُ العَلاَجِيمُ

شَذَّ الحَوَاليَّ عَنْهَا شَوْذَبٌ حَدِبٌ

عِارِي النَّوَاهِقِ بِالتَّنْهَاقِ مَنْهُومُ

حَتَّى دُفِعْتُ لِمَسْتُورِي عَلَى عَجَلٍ

في جَوْزِهِ ونَصِيلِ الرَّأْسِ تَقْدِيمُ

كَأَنَّهُ نَاشِدٌ نَادَى لِمَوْعِدِهِ

عَبْدَ مَنَافٍ إِذَا اشْتَدَّ الحَيَازِيمُ

يَثْنِي عَلَى حَامِيَيْهِ ظِلَّ حَارِكِهِ

يَوْمٌ قُدَيْدِيمَةَ الجَوْزَاءِ مَسْمُومُ

فَصَامَ شَوْكُ السَّفَى يَرْمِي أَشَاعِرَهُ

نِيطَتْ بِأَرْسَاغِهِ مِنْهُ أَضَامِيمُ

وَرَّادُ نَقْعٍ عَلَى مَا كَانَ مِنْ وَحَلٍ

لاَ يُسْتَهَدُّ إِذَا مَا صَوَّتَ البُومُ