إِن أَخلَفَ الوَعدَ حيٌّ يظعَنونَ غَدا

وَفَى لِيَ الطَّرفُ مِن دَمعي بِما وَعَدا

If the living break a promise, they will regret it tomorrow,

While my eyes have fulfilled their promise to me with tears they shed.

فَلا تَرى لؤلؤاً مِن مبسِمٍ نَسَقاً

حَتىّ تَرى لؤلؤاً مِن مَدمَعٍ بَددا

So you won't see a pearl from a smiling meadow,

Until you see a pearl from a weeping eye scatter.

يا سَعدُ إِنَّ فِراقاً كنتَ تحذَرُهُ

دَنا ليَنزِعَ مِن أَحشائِكَ الكَبِدا

O Saad, separation you used to fear,

Has come to tear your liver out of your guts.

هَلمَّ نَبْكِ على نجدٍ وَساكِنِهِ

فَلَن تَرى بَعدَ نَجدٍ عيشَةً رَغَدا

Come let's cry over Najd and its dwellers,

For after Najd you won't see a life of comfort again.

وَدَعْ هُذيماً فقد طافَ السُّلُوُ بِهِ

وَعَن قَريبٍ تَراهُ يَلتَوي كَمَدا

Leave Hudhaym alone, for poetry has revolved around it,

And soon you will see it writhe like a twisted rope.

وَيا هُذَيمُ أَلاتَبكي عَلى وَطَنٍ

يُذيبُ مِن أَدمُعي ذِكراهُ ماجَمَدا

O Hudhaym, won't you cry over a homeland,

That makes the frozen mention of it melt with my tears?

هَلّا اِقتَدَيتَ بِسَعدٍ في صَبابَتِهِ

غَداةَ مَدَّ لِتَوديعِ الحَبيبِ يَدا

If only you followed Saad in his youth,

The morning he bid farewell and waved goodbye to his beloved.

أَتُنجِدانِ فؤاداً شَيِّقاً عَلِقَتْ

بِهِ الصَبابَة إِن أَتهَمتُما نَجَدا

Do you both console a passionate heart,

That youthfulness has blamed if you blame Najd?

أَم تَنُقُضانِ عُهوداً كُنتُ أُبرِمُها

إِن تَنقُضاها فَلا لُقِّيتُما رَشَدا

Or are you breaking pacts I used to make with you,

If you break them, may you never be guided.

مَتى تَغيبا وَلَم يَمنَعْكُما كَرَمٌ

أَنتُخبِرا بِأَحاديثِ الهَوى أَحَدا

When will you disappear, and no generosity prevented you,

From telling the tales of passion to anyone?

فَلا رأَت عَلَمَيْ نَجدٍ عُيونُكُما

وَلا رَعى بِالحِمى نِضواكُما أَبَدا

So your eyes have never seen Najd's flags,

Nor your camels grazed in its protected lands ever.