أَقولُ لِسُعْدى وَهْي تُذْري دُموعَها

وَقَدْ شَافَهَ الغَرْبَ النُّجومُ الشَّوابِكُ

I say to Sa'adiya as she sheds her tears,

While the stars light up the dusk with their lamps:

ذَرِيني أُراعِ النَّجْمَ في مُدْلَهِمَّةٍ

تَخوضُ دَياجيها المَطِيُّ الأَوارِكُ

"Let me watch the star in the gloomy darkness

That its faint light pierces as it wanders about.

فَمِثْلي إِذا ما هَمَّ لَمْ يَثْنِ عَزْمَهُ

بُكاءُ الغَوانِي وَالدُّموعُ السَّوافِكُ

One like me, once resolved, does not waver

With the crying of girls and the pouring of tears.

أَلَمْ تَعْلَمي أَنّي إِذا أَخَذَ الكَرى

مَآخِذَهُ في العَيْنِ لِلنَّوْمِ تارِكُ

Don't you know that when cares take hold

Of my eyes, they leave no room for sleep?

وَمَوْطِيءُ عِيسي صَفْحَةُ اللَّيْلِ وَالسُّرى

كَرِيهٌ إِذا ضاقَتْ عَلَيْها المَبارِكُ

The horse's night-gallop over the plain of sand

Grows tiresome when the distances stretch long.

فَإِنّي ابْنُ بَيْتٍ خَيَّمَتْ عِنْدَهُ العُلا

وَناشَتْ ذُيولَ الرُّسْلِ فِيهِ المَلائِكُ

I am the son of a house over which glory pitched its tents

And at whose doors the mantles of apostles spread.

لَهُ الرَّبَواتُ الشم مِنْ فَرْعِ خِنْدِفٍ

وَمِنْ يَعْرُبٍ فيهِ سِنامٌ وَحارِكُ

For it the lofty stars of Ursa Major descend

From the trees of Khindif, and meteors shoot from Ya'rub.

إِذا الأُمَوِيُّ انْحَطَّ عَنْ خُيَلائِهِ

شَكاهُ إِلى العَلْياءِ فِهْرٌ وَمالِكُ

When the Umayyad loses his pride,

He complains of it to the Highest Heaven and the Guardian Angel."