عَهْدٌ جَديدٌ وشَوقٌ ما لهُ حَدُّ

إلى الرّياضِ الّتي يَزْهُو بها المَجْدُ

A new covenant, and a yearning without bound

To the meadows where glory blossoms

أَحُجُّ أطلالَ مَنْ حَبُّوا ومَنْ عَشِقُوا

وليس بيني وبين المُنْحَنَى بُعْدُ

I'll make pilgrimage to the ruins of those who loved and those who were passionate

And there is no distance between me and the bend

والحُبُّ لا يَعْرِفُ العُشَّاقُ ما صَنَعَتْ

يداهُ، والحُبُّ لا غَيٌّ ولا رَشَدُ

Love - the lovers know not what its hands have done

Love is neither misguidance nor righteousness

يَهِيمُ قَلبُكَ في نَجْدٍ وساكِنِهِ

اللهُ يَرْحَمُ مَن قالَ: الهوى نَجْدُ

Your heart roams in Najd and its dwellers

God have mercy on who said: Passion is Najd

أَتَيْتُ أَحْمِلُ أَشلاءً مُبَعْثَرَةً

مِنَ القَصائدِ أفنى صَبْرَها الوَجْدُ

I came carrying scattered fragments

Of poems that fervor has exhausted my patience

أشكو إلى نَجْدِ مِنْ حُبٍّ ومِنْ وَلَهٍ

والفارسُ الحُرُّ في شَرْعِ الهَوى عَبْدُ

I complain to Najd of love and infatuation

The free knight is a slave in the law of passion

أهذهِ نَجْدُ يا صَحْبِي الَّتي خَلُدَتْ

عَبْرَ الزَّمانِ لها في صَدْرِهِ نَهْدُ

Is this Najd, O my friends, that immortalized

Through time, it has a breast in its heart?

فأينَ كُثْبانُها اللَّاتي شُغِفْتُ بها؟

وأين خَيْمَةُ جَندولِ الهوى (دَعْدُ)

So where are its dunes that I was enamored with?

And where is the tent of the passion dove (Da'du)

أرى، ولكن أرى أبراجَ شامخةً

أعناقُها في خمارِ السُّحْبِ تَمْتَدُّ

I see, but I see towering minarets

Their necks extending in the cloud's veil

مآذنًا وقِبابًا للهُدَى رُفِعَتْ

ما يُغْمد البَرْقُ إلَّا قَهْقَهَ الرَّعدُ

Minarets and domes for guidance were erected

Only lightning flashes laugh of thunder

والرَّمْلُ أَصبحَ بُستانًا ومُنْتَجَعًا

والبِيدُ فاتِنَةٌ فُستانُها الوَرْدُ

The sands have become gardens and resorts

The deserts graceful, their meadows are flowers

هذي الرِّياضُ التي لاثَتْ عَمائِمَها

زُرْقُ السَّحائِبِ غَنَّى شِعْرَها الرَّنْدُ

These are the gardens that clad their turbans

In the blue of clouds, their hair braided by dew

ما لِلرِّياضِ وما لي والعِتابُ على

قلبي الّذي لِلزَّمانِ الجَدْبِ يَرْتَدُّ

What is it to the gardens, and what is it to me, and blame is upon

My heart which relapses to the time of drought

ذِكرى الزَّمانِ الّذي وَلَّى وفي يَدِهِ

سَيْفٌ مِنَ الصَّمْتِ بَتَّارٌ لَهُ حَدُّ

Memory of time that passed, and in its hand

A silent sword, sharp for it is its edge

نَوعٌ مِنَ الهَزْلِ عَصْرُ النِّفْطِ يَفْضَحُهُ

والهَزْلُ في حُكْمِ أَعرافِ الهَوَى جِدُّ

A kind of jest the oil era exposes it

And jesting is in the judgment of passion's etiquette, seriousness

دَعْنِي أُحَدِّثُ عَن يَومي وما صَنَعَتْ

بِيَ الجميلاتُ، والأَلْحاظُ، والخَدُّ

Let me talk about my day and what

The beauties have done to me, the glances and the cheek

الصَّادِقاتُ إذا هَدَّدْنَنِي رَهَبًا

الكاذِباتُ إذا ما حانَ لي وَعْدُ

The truthful when they threaten me in awe

The liars when the promise nears

وعن مَحاسِنِ هذا المِهْرَجانِ ولا

تَسَلْ، فكم زانَ هذا المُلْتَقَى وُدُّ

And about the virtues of this festival, do not

Ask, for how much this assembly was adorned in affection

مِن صَفْوَةِ الصَّفْوَةِ العَلْياءِ مَنْزِلَةً

ضُيوفُهُ مِنْ لآلِي آدمٍ عِقْدُ

Of the elite of the lofty elite in status

Its guests of the pearls of Adam are a necklace

كم شاعرٍ في قِبابِ الشَّمْسِ هامَتُهُ

وعالِمٍ ثَوْبُهُ الإخلاصُ والزُّهْدُ

How many poets, their ambitions in the domes of the sun

And scholars, their clothes are sincerity and asceticism

باسْمِي وباسمِ الوفودِ الغُرِّ أَشْكُرُهُمْ

والفَضْلُ للهِ والإنعامُ والحَمْدُ

In my name and in the name of the honored delegations I thank them

And favor is to God, and bounty, and praise