أحب الحمى والبانَ وجداً بأهلهِ

وإن عاقني عنه الزمان بملطهِ

I love the fever and yearning for his family

Though time has prevented me from them with its affliction

وواحرَّ أنفاسي مقالةَ شائقٍ

إلى بانهِ وقتَ الهجير وظلهِ

And my breath sighs for the words of a longing lover

For his family, at the time of departure and its shadow

وما حُلَّ في الأطلالُ خيطُ مدامعي

فلا عاقها خيطُ الغمام بحله

No thread of my tears was ever loosened

At the old ruins, not even by a thread of clouds in dissolution

وإن تربت كفّ الديار من الحيا

وهبتُ مغانيها الغنى قبل وبلهِ

And if the palms of the dwellings have decayed from life

I bestowed its melodies with song before ruin and decay

ووجهِ غديرٍ رحتُ عنهُ بغلَّةٍ

تزيد على ورد الزُّلال وعلِهِ

And a pond’s face I left out of aversion

Exceeding violets in sheen and surface

وثغر أقاحٍ قبّلت نظمَهُ الصَّبا

ونُقّط بالتبرين دمعي وطلهِ

And the mouth of a loved one I kissed, Sabha adorned its prose

My tears' droplets speckled it along with its saliva

وربَّ حليم الجهل في عرصاتها

بكى لي من دمعي الهتون وجهله

How many gentle in ignorance at its courtyards cried for me

With tears of compassion and ignorance

وأكسبه عطفاً عليَّ ورقَّةً

ضياعِ الفؤاد المستهام وعذلهِ

And it brought him sympathy for me and softness

For the loss of my reckless, blameworthy heart

زمانَ الصبا أبكي وما كنت باكياً

زمانَ الصبا لو جادَ دهرٌ بمثله

I cry the time of youth but I did not cry

The time of youth even if time was equal to it

وقالوا سلا بعض السلو عن الحمى

لقد كذبوا وأشغلَ كلي بكلهِ

And they said, “Ask some of the night companions about the fever”

They have lied, and it preoccupies me completely

وأهيفَ من أعطافه ولحاظهِ

بُليت بقد السمهري وفعلهِ

I have been tested by the stature of Samhra and his deeds

And terrified by his manner and gaze

وقد كنت في حسن التجلد في حمى

فمن دلَّهُ حتى سباني بدلهِ

I used to have patience in fever

So who led him until he cursed me in its place?

ولما حنى منحاجبيه حنيَّة

تيقنت أن الهدب أمثالُ نبلهِ

When he frowned his eyebrows in a frown

I was certain arrogance was the like of his nobility

دعوا مقلتي في حبه وسهادها

وخلوا له ما بين قلبي ونثله

Leave my eyelids to love him and their sleeplessness

And leave what is between my heart and its equal to him

نفى حركاتِ الشوق من بات ساكناً

وأصبح في خفض السلو ورسلهِ

Whoever spends the night still denies the motions of longing

And wakes in the morning humbled and sent

فويلاه من قبح المشيب وهجره

وآهاً على حسن الشباب ووصلهِ

So woe to the ugliness of old age and estrangement

Alas for the beauty of youth and union

وكم رحت مهزوز الجوانح والحشى

بزينبه ذات الجمال وجُملهِ

How often I went with fluttering breast and gut

For Zainab of beauty and perfect stature

أشببُ تعليلاً بأغصان بأنه

وأنسب تمثيلاً لكثبان رمله

I compare youthfully with its branches

And liken appropriately to its sand dunes

فهل من مشوقٍ حافظٍ سرَّ مثله

بصير بإسناد الغرام ونقلهِ

Is there an intimate preserving its secret like it

Insightful into professing passion and conveying it?

أحمله دونَ الفريق ألوكةً

تخفُّ على قبِ الفريق وبزلهِ

I carry her short of parting, a howdah

Lighter than the litter's saddle and pack-saddle

حنيناً إلى مصر وكرسي جسرها

وشوقاً إلى ماء السدير وأثلهِ

Yearning for Egypt and the bridge of its throne

And longing for the water of Sidir and its groves

هوى قصرت أيدي الجياد وسوقه

وضاقت عناق العيس ذرعاً بحمله

Love whose steeds' arms grew short and driving

And whose camel-litters narrowed, barely containing it

أفي كل دارٍ لي حبيبٌ مودعٌ

أذوقُ على كرهٍ مرارة ثكله

In every house I have a beloved bidding farewell

I taste against my will the bitterness of bereavement

وما ضر ضرب السير لو كان ماشياً

على مهله لما سقاني بمهلهِ

No harm in traveling slowly if only walking

At ease, not hastened into demise at ease

فشتت شمل البين أخذاً بحكمه

فكم شفَّ مشتاقاً بتشتيت شملهِ

So it tore apart the union of parting, ruling

How it cleaved with yearning the cleavage of its union!