سَائِلْ بِكَبْشَةَ دَارِسَ الأَطْلاَلِ

قَدْ هَيَّجَتْكَ سُومُهَا لِسُؤَالِ

Asker of ruins haunter

Inflamed by past phantoms to query

والدَّارُ قَدْ تَدَعُ الحَزِينَ لِمَا بِهِ

ويُدِلُّ عَارِفُا بِغَيْرِ دَلاَلِ

While house itself forsakes melancholy man

Its knower declares, without need of guide

سِحْراً كَمَا سَحَرَتْ جَرَادَةُ شَرْبَهَا

بِغُرُورِ أَيَّامٍ وَلَهْوِ لَيَالِي

As if charmed like Jrada's drinking-camp

By glamour of days and revelry of nights

بَلْ هَلْ تَرَى ظُعُناً كُبَيْشَة وَسْطَهَا

مُتَذَنِّبَاتِ الخَلِّ مِنْ أَوْرَالِ

Do you see amidst it gazelles venturing out

With fawn behind does from lairs

لبِسَتْ جَلاَبِيبَ الحَرِيرِ وخَدَّرَتْ

بِالرَّيْطْ فَوْقَ نَوَاعِجٍ وجِمَالِ

Clad in silken shifts, scented

With perfume above bracelets and anklets gleaming

حَتَّى إِذَا هَبَطَتْ مَدَافِعَ رَاكِسٍ

ولَهَا بِصَحْرَاءِ الرُّقَيِّ تَوَالِي

Till when bolt-shooting ballistas descend

And it has in Rukayyah's desert expanse encampments

مَالَ الحُدَاةُ بِهَا لِحَائِشِ قَرْيَةٍ

وكَأَنَّهَا سُفُنٌ بِسِيفِ أَوَالِ

Nomads incline with it to coast of village sought

As if ships with evening first-light

أَكُبَيْشَ مَا يُدْرِيكِ أَنْ رُبْ مَنْهَلٍ

يَرْمِي ِبَعْرمَضِهِ عَلَى الأَجْوَالِ

O Kubeisha! Who tells you that many a watering-place

Hurls its refuse on the meadows all about

نَفَّرْتُ عَنْهُ آمِنَاتِ سِبَاعِهِ

غَلَسَ الظَّلاَمِ بِعَيْهَلٍ مِرْقَالِ

I startled safe from it beasts of prey

As gloom sneaks with twilight purpling

خَطَّارَةٍ أَجُدٍ بِكُلِّ تَنُوَفةٍ

غِبَّ السُّرَى بِجُلاَلَةٍ وجُلاَلِ

Dangerous, potent with every sand-heap

Stars in multitudes thronging and thronging

لَيْتَ اللَّيَالِي يَا كُبَيْشَةُ لَمْ تَكُنْ

إِلاَّ كَلَيْلَتِنَا بِخَبْتِ طحَالِ

Would, O Kubeisha, nights had never been

Save as our night in Khabt Joala's wane

في لَيْلةٍ جَرَتْ النُّحُوسُ بِغَيْرِهَا

يَبْكِي عَلَى أَمْثَالِهَا أَمْثَالِي

When the ill-omened differed from all other eves

And the like of me bewail the like of them

بتْنَا بِدَيِّرَةٍ يُضيءُ وُجُوهَنَا

دَسَمُ السَّلِيطِ عَلَى فَتِيل ذُبَالِ

We bivouacked at an abode lit by our faces

Lusty marrow oil feeding the wick alight

حَتَّى انْتَشَيْنَا عِنْدَ أَدْكَنَ مُتْرَعٍ

حَجْلٍ أُمِرَّ كُرَاعُهُ بِعِقَالِ

Till when at darkest pasturage we strayed

An enclosure whose master tethered his flock

مِمَّا تُعَتَّقُ في الدِّنَان كَأَنَّهَا

بِشِفَاهِ نَاطِلِهَا ذَبِيحُ غَزَالِ

Of females devoted, as if from their delicious lips

Poured blood of sacrifice of young gazelle

وغِنَاءِ مُسْمِعَةٍ جَرَرْتُ لِصَوْتِهَا

ثَوْبِي ولَذَّةِ شَارِبٍ وفِضَالِ

And songstress I dragged to her voice my robe

For pleasure of one drinking and boon bestowed

صَدَحَتْ لَنَا جَيْدَاءُ تَرْكُضُ سَاقُهَا

عِنْدَ الشُّرُوبِ مَجَامِعَ الخَلْخَالِ

A fawn sang out to us, legs prancing as it ran

When we were drinking mixed wine in goblets

فضُلاً تُنَازِعُهَا المَحَابِضُ صَوْتَهَا

بِأَجَشَّ لاَ قَطِعٍ ولاَ مِصْحَالِ

Its singing the lutes envied with no trilling flourish or refrain at all

And if that, O Kubeisha, had not been

فَإذِا وذلكَ يَا كُبَيْشَةُ لَمْ يَكُنْ

إِلاَّ كَحَلْمَةِ حَالِمٍ بِخَيَالِ

Aught but dreamer's reverie in his fancy

Kubeisha struck camp and riders bivouacked

طَرَقَتْ كُبَيْشَةُ والرِّكَابُ مُنَاخَةٌ

مُلقىً أَزِمَّتُهَا بِبَطْن إِلالِ

Their trappings cast on the flank of night

O Kubeisha! Who tells you that many a nook

أَكُبَيْشَ مَا يُدْرِيكِ أَنْ رُبْ خَلَّةٍ

لَيْسَتْ بِشَوْشَاةٍ ولاَ شِمْلالِ

Is neither trifling nor insignificant

Lair as if therein were laid

خَوْدٌ كَأنَّ فِرَاشَهَا وُضِعَتْ بِهِ

أَضْغَاثُ رَيْحَانٍ غَدَاةَ شِمَالِ

Sweet basil debris at dawn's first breath

As if it hugged cloud vapor in its keep

وكَأَنَّهَا اغْتَبَقَتْ قَرِيحَ سَحَابَةً

بِعَرىً تُصَفِّقُهُ الرِّيَاحُ زُلاَلِ

The winds making its strands quiver clear

Dyed saffron like steed-housing cast off

قُطِبَتْ بِاصْفَرَ مِنْ كَوَافِرِ فَارِسٍ

سَقَطَتْ سُلاَفتُهُ مِنَ الجِرْيَالِ

By a Farsee its tack slipping from the packsaddle all

She meant to tempt me but when love of her waned in me

عَنِيَتْ تُوَاصِلُني فَلَمَّا رَابَني

مِنْها الهَوَى آذَنْتُهَا بِزِيَالِ

I gave notice to her of estrangement

And I snapped her tether-ropes—I a man who severs ties

وصَرَمْتُ وَصْلَ حِبَالِهَا إِنِّي امْرُؤٌ

وَصَّالُ أَحْبَالٍ صَرُومُ حِبَالِ

Knotting ropes and severing rope-bonds too

In Ubrad's shades built I for lads and lasses

وظِلاَلِ أَبْرَادٍ بَنَيْتُ لِفِتْيَةٍ

يَخْفِقْنَ بَيْنَ سَوَافِلٍ وعَوَالِي

That hover between deep valleys and sublime heights

My surmise of them was perhaps while they in Tenufah

ظَنَّي بِهمْ كَعَسى وهُمْ بِتَنُوفَةٍ

يَتَنَازَعُونَ جَوَائِبَ الأَمْثَالِ

Vied for honor's richest spoils

Seeking their pleasure that khunf with its followers

سَلَفاً لها الخُنُفُ المَرَاخِي تَبْتغِي

جُونَ المَسَاحِلِ والبِطَاءُ تَوَالِي

While cattle in Bita tread its ends

They know not if they'll rise on the morrow for others

لاَ يَعْلَمُونَ أَيُصْبِحُونُ لِغَيْرِهِمْ

أَمْ يَرْجِعُونَ مُجَنِّبِي الأَنْفَالِ

Or get them far from Fortune's winnings all

By God I rose at dawn against the flocks with lads

ولَقَدْ غَدَوْتُ عَلَى الجَزُورِ بِفِتْيَةٍ

كُرَمَاءَ حَضْرَةَ لَحْمِهَا أَزْوَالِ

Brave, battlefield the flesh of them chains

So I hurried them the fullness of their daybreak

فَغَدَوْتُ أُعْجِلُهَا تَمَامَ ضَحَائِهَا

بَأَحَذَّ صَاحِبِ فَوْزَةٍ وخِصَالِ

With liveliest mate of merit and part perfect

Bay, as if the apricots in its dusty coat

أَوِدٍ كَأَنَّ الزَّعْفَرَانَ بِليطِهِ

بَادِي السَّفَاسِقِ مِخْلَطٍ مِزْيَالِ

Patent, mixed with brown froth in the bowl

Of branching shauhata by slope of ridge

مِنْ فَرْعِ شَوْحَطَةٍ بِضَاحِي هَضْبَةٍ

لَقِحَتْ بِهَا لقْحاً خِلاَف حِيَال

Where it coupled with her unlike its counterpart