ثنت الشّمول من الشمائلْ

كالبان في ورق الغلائلْ

Her beauty transcends all beauties,

Like fresh milk in leaves of myrtle.

هيفٌ يناط بأعينٍ

مثل الأسنَّة في الذوابلْ

A gazelle with eyes,

Like arrows amidst the blades.

من كلِّ مخشيٍّ الخلا

ف لأجله جدلُ العواذلْ

The fright of every cautious one,

For whom the passionate have contended.

عقلت فؤادك ثيوم بر

قة عاقلٍ تلك العقائلْ

She captured your heart for days,

With the intellect of a reasonable one, those thoughts.

من كل ظامية الوشا

ح كتربها ريَّا الخلاخلْ

From every dark night,

Whose darkness is dispelled by the glimmer of anklets.

هنَّ الظباء نواصبٌ

هدب الجفون لنا حبائلْ

The gazelles are spying,

Batting eyelashes at us coquettishly.

سقماً يشاب بصحَّةٍ

فلذاك يحيي وهو قاتلْ

A sickness remedied by health,

Thus it brings life while killing.

وثغورها أحلى وأحسن

في رياض من مناهلْ

Her mouth is the sweetest and most beautiful,

In gardens with rivers.

لولاكِ يا دارَ الجميع

لما رثيت لكل ناحلْ

Without you, oh home of all,

I would not have mourned every departed one.

ولما نحرت الدمعَ نحـ

ـرَ قرى على تلك المنازلْ

I would not have shed tears,

Abundantly, upon those dwellings.

ولما وقفت وقوف صـ

ـب ناحل يبكي لناحلْ

I would not have stood like a lovesick man,

Weeping for his beloved.

لا ألقيتْ إلا عليك أجنـ

ـة السحب الحواملْ

I would not have unloaded upon you,

The burdens of rain-bearing clouds.

وسقتكِ ما شئنا وشئـ

ـتِ ضروع مزنتها الحوافلْ

I would have not quenched your thirst,

With cows whose udders overflow.

عهدي بها ويدُ الغما

م تجيد في رقم الخمائلْ

My covenant with it, the night of destiny records,

In the books of decrees.

يختال في عصب الوصا

ئل كلُّ شاكي الطرف صائلْ

Every complaining eye allures,

In the ties of passion, constantly calling.

حرسوا العيون ببيضهم

فحموا المناصلَ بالمناصلْ

They guarded their eyes with their white lids,

Thus they protected the swords with swords.

ولطال ما منعت جنا

عسل اللَّمى تلك العواسلْ

For so long they prevented,

The sweet honey of wishes, those chasteners.

ولحبّها كسرتْ فؤا

دَ محبّها تلك العواملْ

For love of her they broke,

The heart of her lover, those powers.

فغدت أواخر عيشنا

في ظلّها تلك الأوائلْ

Thus the latter parts of our lives,

Became in her shade, those beginnings.

يا دهرُ ما لك لست تبـ

ـرح جاهلاً في كلِّ فاضلْ

Oh fate, what is with you, you do not bid farewell,

To an ignorant one, nor reconcile with one virtuous.

لا مجملاً نلقاك في

حال تسوء ولا مجاملْ

We do not find you just,

In an ill state, nor congenial.

فأنا المقيم ولستُ أفـ

ـتأ نادباً في إثر راحلْ

I remain, and I do not hope

To elegize, in the wake of one departed,

ما بين ربعٍ مقفرٍ

منه وأحشاءِ أواهلْ

Between an abandoned ruin,

Of it, and the regions of initiations.