أوجداً وذيّاكَ الحمى ومنازلهْ

لك الله قلباً ما تقرُّ بلابلهْ

I found longing and the one for whom I long

May God give you a heart that can't be calmed without seeing the one it loves

يتيّمهُ جدُّ الفراقِ وهزلهُ

ويملكهُ حقُّ الفراقِ وباطله

Grief itself makes it an orphan, jesting with it

While the right and wrong of parting rule over it

فخذ عفوَ يومِ البين قبل وقوعه

فإني عليمٌ بالذي أنت جاهله

So take the pardon of separation before it befalls you

For I know what you are ignorant of

هوىً أخلفت أخلافهُ بعد حفلها

وبارقُ وصل أظمأتني مخائله

I broke my word after gatherings of love

While flashes of union parched me, their harbors refusing me drink

وما في فؤادي للتجلد فضلةٌ

فيشكو النوى خطبُ النوى اليوم شاغله

My heart lacks the strength to be patient

So the bowed head complains today of what occupies it

أطعت الهوى العذريّ وجداً بنازح

يطاعُ الهوى فيهِ وتعصى عواذله

I obeyed love's excuse and passionately visited

Love is obeyed in this, though reproached be the visitor

شفاءُ سقامي منهُ سقمُ جفونهِ

ونقعُ غليلي ما تضمُّ غلائله

My remedy for my sickness is the sickness of his eyelids

And the easing of my anguish is what his locks contain

أشيمت ظبي ألحاظه أم سيوفهُ

وهزَّت لنا أعطافه أم ذوابله

Did I perceive a glance of his gazelle eyes or his swords?

Did his bending branches or creeping plants shake for me?

يجيب عذولي فيه نطقُ نطاقهِ

ويصمتُ عنهُ قلبهُ وخلاخله

My flirtations are answered by the speech of his twistings

While his heart and bangles are silent about it

وما بحتُ لولا نفحةٌ جلّقيّةٌ

حبيسٌ عليها طلُّ دمعي ووابله

I wouldn't have confessed were it not for a wafting breeze

My streaming tears and rain are confined to it

سلافيَّةُ الأنفاس مسكيّة الصّبا

وآخرُ تهيامي إليها أوائله

My breaths are of Salafi musk, prairie winds

While the first of my passion is its last

حبيبٌ إليَّ الشهم تندى شماله

وأعطاف بانِ السفح تزهى شمائله

A beloved whose cheek the dawn dews

While the slopes of his elevated land pride themselves on their writhing tresses

لنجدّيةٌ أفياؤهُ وظلالهُ

وسحرّيةٌ أسحاره وأصائله

He has the hospitality and shade of Nejd

The witchcraft of his sorcery and trellises

كأنَّ رماحاً في متون قواضب

إذا أضطربت أعطافهُ وجداوله

As though lances in the scabbards of canoes

When his bending branches and streams are stirred

كنانةُ مزن والقطارُ سهامها

وغمدُ سحابٍ والبروق مناصله

The starry cluster of Muzainah and its arrows

The scabbard of a cloud and its flashing blades

وللهِ سفحاً قاسيون وهضبهُ

ويا حبّذا أعلامهُ ومجاهله

By God, it has the rugged hill of Qais

And how excellent are its landmarks and battlefields

إذا المحلُ هزَّتهُ إليه التفاتةٌ

أصيبت بنبل الغاديات مقاتله

When a glance moves it into turning

It hits with the arrows of the departing ladies its fighters

ولا تحسبا أني ظفرتُ بسلوةٍ

ولا أنني أدركت صبراً أحاوله

Think not that I obtained any peace

Nor that I attained any patience I attempt

متى وقفت عيسي على حجراتهِ

فسائلها من دمعِ عيني سائله

Whenever I halted at his lodgings

Ask his streaming tears about my streaming ones

ولكنني أدلجتُ في طلب الغنى

رجاءَ مقامٍ لا تخاف غوائله

Rather I pretended to seek wealth

Hoping for an abode whose misfortunes I need not fear

وهل اقتضى ديناً على ذمَّةِ العلى

وجودُ صلاحِ الدين ذي المجدِ كافله

Can the existence of the excellence of Salah al-Din, its guarantor

Require a debt upon the responsibility of the Sublime?