وَسِرْبِ عَذارَى مِنْ عُقيلٍ سَمِعْنَني

وَراءَ بُيوتِ الحَيِّ مُرْتَجِزاً أَشْدو

A flock of maidens from 'Uqail heard me

Reciting poetry behind the dwellings of Hayy

فَسُدَّتْ خَصاصَاتُ الخُدورِ بِأَعْيُنٍ

حَكَتْ قُضُباً في كُلِّ قَلْبٍ لَها غِمْدُ

So the eyeholes of the chambers were blocked

By staves that pierced every heart that had a sheath

وَرَدَّدْنَ أَنْفاسَاً تُقَدُّ مِنَ الحَشَى

وَتَدْمَى فَلَمْ يَسْلَمْ لِغَانِيَةٍ عِقْدُ

And they breathed sighs that ignited my fervor

And bled, but no necklace was safe for a singing girl

وَفِيهِنَّ هِنْدٌ وَهْيَ خَوْدٌ غَزيرةٌ

وَمُنْيَةُ نَفْسِي دونَ أَتْرابِها هِنْدُ

Among them were a Hind and a Hayya, plump

And my soul's demise is for their sake, O Hind!

فَقُلْنَ لَهَا مِنْ أَينَ أَوْضَحَ ذا الفَتى

وَمَنْشَؤُهُ غَوْرا تِهامَةَ أَوْ نَجْدُ

They asked her, "Whence did this young man come

From a valley in Tihama or from Najd?"

فَفي لَفْظِهِ عُلْويَّةٌ مِنْ فَصاحَةٍ

وَقَدْ كادَ مِنْ أَشْعارِهِ يَقْطُرُ المَجْدُ

In his diction is a highborn eloquence

And from his poetry glory drips

فَقالَتْ غُلامٌ مِنْ قُرَيْشٍ تَقاذَفَتْ

بِهِ نِيَّةٌ يَعْيَى بِها العاجِزُ الوَغْدُ

A girl said, "A Qurayshi youth upon whom

An ambition was cast to revive the frail weakling

لَعَمْرُ أَبيها إِنَّها لَخَبيرةٌ

بِأَرْوَعَ يَمْري دَرَّ نائِلِهِ الحَمْدُ

By his father's life! She is an expert

At the finest camel-borne litters of praise."

مِنَ القَوْمِ تَسْتَحْلِي المَنايَا نُفُوسَهُمْ

وَيَخْتالُ تِيهاً في ظِلالِهِمُ الوَفْدُ

Of a people whose souls crave calamities

While the delegation wanders lost in their shade

وَمَنْ لانَ لِلْخَطْبِ المُلِمِّ عَريكَةً

فَإنّي على ما نَابَني حَجَرٌ صَلْدُ

Whoever recoils from the terrible disaster

I am, for what has afflicted me, an impenetrable stone

بَلَغْتُ أَشُدِّي وَالزَّمانُ مُمارِسٌ

جِماحِي عَلَيْهِ وَهْو ما راضَنِي بَعْدُ

I reached my prime, and time kept

Goading me, though it has not pleased me yet