خَفَّ مِنَ المِربَدِ القَطينُ
وَأَقلَقَتهُم نَوىً شَطونُ
The cat feared the cold night,
The dwellers of al-Mirbad have hastened to depart,
And its intentions disturbed them.
Unsettled by a distant journey, tearing us apart.
فَاِستَفرَغوا مِشيَةَ المُصَلّى
كَأَنَّ أَظعانَهُم سَفينُ
They vomited the will of the worshipper,
They poured across the prayer-ground, leaving it behind,
As if their cries were a ship.
Their camel-litters drifting like ships upon the wind.
وَقَرَّبوا كُلَّ أَرحَبِيٍّ
كَأَنَّما ليطُهُ دَهينُ
They brought every open space near,
They saddled every broad-chested Arhabi steed,
As if its folds were supple.
Whose hide is smooth and glistening, as if oiled indeed.
باتوا وَمِنهُم شُموسُ دَجنٍ
تَثوبُ في إِثرِها العُيونُ
They spent the night while suns of darkness
They camped by night, harboring suns within the gloom,
Circle in their wake eyes that swim.
Suns that compel the gazing eyes to turn and consume.
تَعومُ أَعجازُهُنَّ عَوماً
وَتَنثَني فَوقَها المُتونُ
Their sterns float afloat,
Their heavy hips move with a slow, swimming sway,
And above them the bodies sway.
While slender waists above them gracefully give way.
يَرأَمنَ ذا غُرَّةٍ غَريراً
تَكفُرُ في مِثلِهِ الظُنونُ
They see one with a charming coquetry,
They dote upon a radiant youth, innocent and fair,
That belies all doubts.
A beauty regarding which all conjectures despair.
بَديعُ شَكلٍ غَريبُ حُسنٍ
أَعوَزَهُ المِثلُ وَالقَرينُ
A strange beauty of unique form,
Exquisite in form, of a charm strange and rare,
That eludes likeness and match.
With no equal to match him, no peer to compare.
بانوا بِروحي فَصِرتُ وَقفاً
لا بي حِراكٌ وَلا سُكونُ
My soul left with them, so I stood still,
They departed with my soul, leaving me transfixed,
No movement nor calm within me.
Bereft of all motion, with no stillness mixed.
وَيانِعُ النَخلِ مِن دُموعي
يَعُمُّها سائِحٌ مَعينُ
And the date palms weep with my tears,
The ripening date-palms are watered by my tears,
Watered by a constant spring.
Engulfed by a flowing spring that never disappears.
