سَقياً لِغَيرِ العَلياءِ وَالسَنَدِ

وَاغَيرِ أَطلالِ مَيَّ بِالجَرَدِ

Watering the highlands and rugged terrain,

Let rain fall not on al-'Alyaa nor al-Sanad,

And ruins with May rain,

Nor on the crumbling ruins of Mayy at al-Jarad.

وَيا صَبيبَ السَحابِ إِن كُنتَ قَد

جُدتَ اللِوى مَرَّةً فَلا تَعُدِ

O clouds' pouring, if once

O pouring clouds, if indeed you have already

You found the twisting valleys, do not repeat,

Watered al-Liwa once, then do not return.

لا تَسقِيَن بَلدَةً إِذا عُدَّتِ ال

بِلدانُ كانَت زِيادَةَ الكَبِدِ

Do not water a land, if the lands

Do not water a land which, when the lands are tallied,

Were surplus liver.

Is but an ailment and a burden to the heart.

إِن أَتَحَرَّز مِنَ الغُرابِ بِها

يَكُن مَفَرّي مِنهُ إِلى الصُرَدِ

If I take precautions from the crow therein

If I guard myself against the ill-omened crow therein,

My escape from it would be to hemmed mountains.

My flight from him leads only to the shrike.

بِحَيثُ لا تَجلِبُ الفِجاجُ إِلى

أُذنَيكَ إِلّا تَصايُحَ النَقَدِ

Where the storms do not carry to

A place where the wide ravines bring nothing

Your ears but shouts of the black stones.

To your ears, save the bleating of stunted sheep.

أَحسَنُ عِندي مِنَ اِنكِبابِكَ بِال

فِهرِ مُلِحّاً بِهِ عَلى وَتَدِ

Better in my view than your bowing with

Better, to my mind, than your toiling bent low

Winds salty therewith on a peg.

With a stone, hammering relentlessly at a tent-peg,

وُقوفُ رَيحانَةٍ عَلى أُذُنٍ

وَسَيرُ كَأسٍ إِلى فَمٍ بِيَدِ

A sprig standing on an ear

Is a sprig of sweet basil resting upon the ear,

And a cup passing to a mouth by a hand

And the passage of a cup, lifted by hand to mouth,

يَسقيكَها مِن بَني العِبادِ رَشاً

مُنتَسِبٌ عيدُهُ إِلى الأَحَدِ

Served by the folk a morning drink

Poured for you by a fawn of the Banu 'Ibad,

Its feast belonging to Sunday.

Whose holy feast day belongs to the Sunday rite.

إِذا بَنى الماءُ فَوقَها حَبَباً

صَلَّبَ فَوقَ الجَبينِ بِالزَبَدِ

When the water builds bubbles over it

When the water raises bubbles upon the vintage,

It erects over the brow with foam

He signs the cross upon his brow with the foam.

أَشرَبُ مِن كَفِّهِ شَمولاً وَمَن

فيهِ رُضاباً يَجري عَلى بَرَدِ

I drink from his palm in gulps and from it

I drink chilled wine from his palm, and from

Drafts running on cold.

His mouth, a nectar flowing over teeth like hail.

فَذاكَ أَشهى مِنَ البُكاءِ عَلى ال

رَبعِ وَأَنمى في الروحِ وَالجَسَدِ

That is more luscious than crying over

For that is far sweeter than weeping over the

A quarter and more vitalizing to the soul and body

Ruined camp, and livelier for the spirit and the flesh,

لا سِيَّما إِن شَداكَ ذو نُطَفٍ

يا دارُ أَقوَت بِالتَفِّ مِن جُدَدِ

Especially if shaken by one with buds

Especially when one adorned with earrings sings to you:

O house! I took strength from the folds anew.

"O dwelling place at al-Taff, now desolate and worn."