مَحا رَسمَ دارٍ بِالصَريمَةِ مُسبِلٌ

نَضوحٌ وَريحٌ تَعتَريهُ جَفولُ

The trace of a house in ruins wiped away

By floods and winds sweeping unrestrained

فَغَيَّرَ آياتِ الحَبيبِ مَعَ البِلى

بَوارِحُ تَطوي تُربَها وَسُيولُ

So it changed the signs of the beloved

With members burying the soil in torrents

دِيارٌ لِأَروى وَالرَبابِ وَمَن يَكُن

لَهُ عِندَ أَروى وَالرَبابِ تُبولُ

A land for bushes, grasshoppers, and whoever

Has a place with bushes and grasshoppers

يَبِت وَهوَ مَشحوذٌ عَلَيهِ وَلا يُرى

إِلى بَيضَتي وَكرِ الأَنوقِ سَبيلُ

He spends the night sharpened against it unseen

To my tent and the burrows of the gazelles a path

وَما خِفتُ بَينَ الحَيِّ حَتّى رَأَيتُهُم

لَهُم بِأَعالي الجَلهَتَينِ حُمولُ

I did not fear among the living until I saw them

With skulls on the tops of the two barren tracts

فَبانوا بِأَروى يَومَ ذاكَ كَأَنَّها

مِنَ الأُدمِ غَنّاءُ البُغامِ خَذولُ

So they appeared at Arwa as if it were

Among the leather, the singing slave girls, unkempt

مُبِنَّةُ غارٍ أَينَما التَجَّ شَمسُهُ

بِحالٍ فَقَرنُ الشاةِ فيهِ ظَليلُ

A cavern wherever its sun declines

In a condition the sheep's horn in it a shade

لَها مِن وَراقٍ ناعِمٍ ما يُكِنُها

مَرَفٌّ تَرَعّاهُ الضُحى وَرُبولُ

It has from a soft leafiness that hides it

A pasture grazed at dawn and dusk

وَكَم قَتَلَت أَروى بِلا تِرَةٍ لَها

وَأَروى لِفُرّاغِ الرِجالِ قَتولُ

And how many Arwa killed without a spear belonging to it

Yet Arwa is for the relief of men, a slayer

فلَو كانَ مَبكى ساعَةٍ لَبَكَيتُها

وَلَكِنَّ شَرَّ الغانِياتِ طَويلُ

If a crying time had cried, I would have cried it

But the worst of singing slave girls is unending

ظَلِلتُ كَأَنّي شارِبٌ بابِلِيَّةً

رَكودُ الحُمَيّا في العِظامِ شَمولُ

I have lingered as if drinking Babylonian

Stagnant fever in the bones pervading

صَريعُ فِلَسطينِيَّةٍ راعَهُ بِها

مِنَ الغَورِ عَن طولِ الفِراقِ خَليلِ

The stupor of a young Philistine woman tended it

From the exultation, from the length of parting, a friend

أَبوا أَن يَقيلوا إِذ تَوَقَّدَ يَومُهُم

وَقَد جَعَلَت عُفرُ الظِباءِ تَقيلُ

They refused to rest when their day kindled

And the thickets of gazelles had been made to rest

وَأَشرَفَ حِرباءُ الظَهيرَةِ يَصطَلي

وَهُنَّ عَلى عيدانِهِنَّ جُذولُ

The she-lizards of noon basked

While they were upon their limbs ungainly

أَجَدّوا نَجاءً غَيَّبَتهُم عَشِيَّةً

خَمائِلُ مِن ذاتِ الغَضى وَهُجولُ

They met an evening that caused them to disappear

Crazed from the slim waisted and stirred

وَكُنتُ صَحيحَ القَلبِ حَتّى أَصابَني

مِنَ اللامِعاتِ المُبرِقاتِ خُبولُ

I was sound of heart until I was struck

By the brilliant, shining, stare of a gazelle

مِنَ المائِلاتِ الغيدِ وَهناً وَإِنَّها

عَلى صُرمِهِ أَو وَصلِهِ لَغَفولُ

Of the swaying, sliding, oh now, and she

On his declivity or union is heedless

وَكُنَّ عَلى أَحيانِهِنَّ يَصِدنَني

وَهُنَّ مَنايا لِلرِجالِ وَغولُ

And they bar me from their times

While they are a death wish for men, a marauder

فَإِنَّ اِمرَأً لا يَنتَهي عَن غَوايَةٍ

إِذا ما اِشتَهَتها نَفسُهُ لَجَهولُ

For a man will not abstain from going astray

If his soul desires it, obscure