أَمَا لفراقِنا هذا اجتماعُ

ولا لمدى تقاطعِنا انقطاعُ

Is there no reunion after this parting of ours,

No mending after such long estrangement?

حمَلْنَا بعدكم يا أهلَ نجدٍ

مِنَ الأشواقِ ما لا يُستَطاعُ

After you left, O people of Najd,

We've borne such longing as cannot be borne.

مننتُمْ آنِفاً بالقُرْبِ منكُمْ

فهلْ لزمانِ وَصلِكُمُ ارْتِجاعُ

You graced us lately with your nearness,

But can the days of your company return?

رَحلْتُمْ بالنُّفُوسِ فليتَ شِعْري

أكانَ لكُمْ بأنفُسِنَا انْتِفاعُ

You went away with the souls within you—

I wonder, did our souls give you comfort?

وخَلَّفتم جُسُوماً بالياتٍ

عَلَى جَمْرِ الغَرَامِ لها اضْطِجَاعُ

You left behind you bodies in distress

Tossed on the embers of passion, restless,

وأَكْبَاداً وأفئِدَةً مِرَاضاً

بِهَا مِنْ لاعِجِ الشَّوْقِ انصداعُ

And hearts and livers painfully diseased

From the blows of ardent love, broken,

وأَلْسِنةً خَرَسْنَ فلا كَلامٌ

وآذَاناً صَمَمْنَ فَلا اسْتِمَاعُ

And tongues struck dumb, with no speech,

And ears gone deaf, with no hearing,

وأجْفَاناً مُؤرَّقَةً دَوَاماً

لهَا عَنْ خاطِبِ الغَمْضِ امتِنَاعُ

And eyelids sleepless, in constant distress,

Refusing the solace of slumber—

كَأَنَّ قُلوبَنا لمَّا استَقَلَّتْ

ركائِبُكُمْ ضُحىً ودَنَا الوَدَاعُ

As if, when you loaded your riding-camels,

Our hearts had become orphaned nestlings

فِراخُ قَطاً تَخَطَّفَها بُزاةٌ

وعَرجُ ظِبَاً تَعاوَرُها سِبَاعُ

Whose mother the hunters had snatched away,

Or gazelles assailed by wild beasts.

أَهيمُ بكُمْ أسَىً وأَضيقُ وَجْداً

ومَا بَيْنِي وبينِكُمُ ذِرَاعُ

I roam about, distressed, sick with longing,

Though nothing but a yard separates you and me.

فَكَيفَ وبَيْنَنَا آذِيُّ بَحْرٍ

وبِيدٌ في مَفَاوِزِهَا اتِّسَاعُ

How then, when between us lies a sea

Whose breadth offers passage to none?

ألاَ حَيّا الحَيَا أَحْيَاءَ قَومٍ

أَذَاعُوا بالفِرَاقِ ولَمْ يُرَاعُوا

Greet them, greet the beloved folk

Who parted from us without a glance backward,

وظَبْيٍ من ظِبَاءِ الأُنْسِ حَالٍ

يَرُوعُ القَانِصِينَ ولا يُرَاعُ

And a gazelle of the gazelles of companionship

Who grazes where the archers cannot graze,

يُبَارزُنِي بألْحَاظٍ مِراضٍ

فتَصْرَعُنِي لهُ وأنَا الشُّجَاعُ

Who battles me with languishing eyes—

I am slain though known for my courage.

ذَكَرْتُ جَمَالَهُ والخيلُ حَسْرَى

عَوَابِسُ قد أضَرَّ بِها القِرَاعُ

I recalled his beauty and the steeds stomped

Angrily, maddened by the strokes of the horsewhip;

وسُمْرُ الخَطِّ مرْكَزُهَا التَّرَاقِي

وبِيضُ الهِنْدِ مَغمُدها النُّخَاعُ

Their ostrich plumes tremble with desire

And the Indian blade flashes within its sheath.

فَمَا لِيْثَ الخِمَارُ علَى مُحيّاً

كَغُرَّتِهِ ولا عُقِدَ القِنَاعُ

The wine bottle pays no heed to the censor

Nor does the silver anklet obey the prohibition!