ذَرِ العَيْنَ تَسْفَحْ في الدِّيَارِ فلا أَرَى

التَّعَزِّيَ يَشْفيها ولاَ تَرْكَها الجَهْلاَ

Let the eyes shed tears in the homes, yet I see no solace

That would heal them, nor does ignorance leave them be

وَلاَ يَسْتَطِيعُ القَلْبُ لَوْ تَعْذُرَانِهِ

صُحُوًّا ولاَ عَيْني بِعَبْرَتِهَا بُخْلاَ

Nor can the heart, even if they both blame it,

Stay awake, nor can my eyes in their weeping be stingy

مَرَتْهَا فَلَمْ تُسْبِلْ طَوِيلاً ولَمْ تَكَدْ

بِدِرَّةِ مَاءِ الشَّأْنِ تَسْفَحُهَا ضَهْلاَ

They flowed a short time, nor for long did they spill

With beads of water fit for grandeur do they pour

تَذَكَّرْتُ إِخْوَانِي الَّذِينَ هَجَرْتُهُمْ

كَأَنْ لَمْ يِكُنْ شَكْلِي لَهُمْ مَرَّةً شَكْلاَ

I remembered my brothers whom I abandoned

As if my image to them hadn’t once been an image

هَجَرْتُهُمُ مِنْ غَيْرِ بُغْضٍ ولا قِلىً

ولكِنَّ مَرَّ الدَّهْرِ كَانَ لَهُمْ شُغْلاَ

Not out of hatred did I abandon them, nor rancor

But time passed by and it kept them busy

ونَحْنُ نُرَجِّي أَنْ نُلاَقِيَ عِزَّةً

عَلَى أُخَرٍ لَمْ نَلْقَ قَبْلُ لَهُمْ عِدْلاَ

While we hope to meet with honor

Unlike anytime before we had met them with justice

وحَيٍّ كِرَامِ قَدْ تَلَغَّبْتُ سَيْرَهُمْ

بِمَرْبُوعَةٍ صَهْبَاءَ مَجْدُولَةٍ جَدْلاَ

Noble, generous folk whose path I roamed

With a white, braided, plaited camel

رَجِيعَةِ أَسْفَارٍ سَرِيعٍ أبِيقُهَا

إِذَا أَخْلَقَتْ نَعْلاً نُجِدُّ لَهَا نَعْلاَ

The return of journeys, fast were their she-camels

That if she were to wear out her sandal, we’d find her a sandal

مَتَى تَأْتِهِمْ مِنْ حَافَةٍ تَلْقَ سَيِّداً

غُلاماً مُبِيناً عِنْدَهُ السَّرُْ أَوْ كَهْلاَ

Whenever they come from an edge, they meet a chief

A clear lad with him the secret or an old man

يَقُودُونَ جُرْداً قَدْ طُوِينَ كَأَنَّهَا

خَطَاطِيفُ ظِلٍّ لَمْ يَدَعْنَ لَهُمْ تَبْلاَ

They lead a regiment that looks as though it were

Phantoms of shade that left them no mirage

لَهُمْ ظُعُنٌ سَطْرٌ تَخَالُ زُهَاءَهَا

إِذَا مَا حَزَاهَا الآلُ مِنْ سَاعَةٍ نَخْلاَ

For them are spears, a line their height makes seem

As if the family of an hour had picked them as palm trees

بِوَادٍ حِجَازيٍّ تَغَوَّلَ طُولُهُ

مَزَارِعُ في شُطْئَانِهِ نُجِلَتْ نَجْلاَ

In a Hijazi valley lengthened, its plantations on its banks

Were tilled, they did not leave them fallow

لَهُمْ سَلَفٌ شُمٌّ طِوَالٌ رِمَاحُهُمْ

يَسِيرُونَ لاَ مِيلَ الرُّكُوبِ ولاَ عُزْلاَ

Theirs is a noble ancestry, tall are their lances

They travel, no bend or swerve

وحَوْمٌ حَوَتْ آبَاؤُهُمْ أُمَّهَاتِهَا

نَجَائِبُ نُعْطِيهَا ونَعْقِلُهَا عَقْلاَ

And a sanctuary their fathers roamed, we tend its mothers

Veiled-ones we give them and hobble them

ونَنْحَرُهَا مَثنىً إِذَا الرِّيحُ أَعْصَفَتْ

وخِلْتَ بُيُوتَ الحَيِّ مَنْزِلَةً مَحْلاَ

And slaughter them two by two when the wind grew violent

And the tribe’s homes became a temporary abode

ونُلْصِقُ بالكُوم الجِلاَدِ وقَدْ رَغَتْ

أَجِنَّتُهَا ولَمْ تُنَضِّجْ لَهَا حَمْلاَ

And we paste the hides by the heap when she brays

Her fetus not yet ripened into a burden for her

وبِيضٍ مَبَاهِيجٍ كَأَنَّ خُدُودَهَا

خُدُودُ مَهاً آلفْنَ مِنْ عَالِجٍ هَجْلاَ

And white camels that seem as though their cheeks

Were the cheeks of a loved one, cured of mange

ثِقَالِ الخُطَى غِيدِ السَّوَالِفِ لَمْ تُقِمْ

عَلى الخَسْفِ يَمْلأْنَ الدَّمِالِيجَ والحَجْلاَ

Heavy of step, loud of jewelry, they did not stand

On quicksand, filling the hollows and mud

تَبَاهَى بِصَوْغٍ مِنْ كُرُومٍ وفِضَّةٍ

مُعَطَّفِةٍ يَكْسُونَهَا قَصَباً خَدْلاَ

They pride themselves on crafting by guilds and silver

Worn over reed mantles as garments

لَهَوْتُ بِهَا والدَّهْرُ ضَافٍ قِنَاعُهُ

عَلَيْنَا ولَمْ يَقْطَعْ لَنَا كَاشِحٌ حَبْلاَ

I toyed with them while time dons its mask over us

And no conqueror has cut for us a rope