يا دارَ فاتِنَتي حُيِّيتِ مِنْ دَارِ

سَيَّرْتُ فيكِ وفي مَنْ فِيكِ أَشْعَاري

O my charming home, I bid you greetings

I strolled in you, and in you flowed my verses

رَحلتُ عَنْها وللأشْجانِ ما ترَكَتْ

في العَيْنِ والقلبِ من ماءٍ ومِنْ نار

I left you, though leaving did grieve my heart

With waters of tears and fires that smart

كانتْ مَجَالَ صَباباتٍ لَهَوْتُ بها

ومُسْتَراضَ لبُاناتٍ وأوْطارِ

A place you were, where I frolicked in my primes

A pasture, where grazed my steeds at their times

أسائِلُ الطَيْرَ عَنها لو تُنَبِّئني

أو تنْقُلُ الطَيرُ عنها بَعْضَ أخْبارِ

I ask the birds about you, hoping they’d tell

Or, from you, some news the birds would yell

يَنْسَى بهَا كلُّ نائِي الدَارِ مَوْطِنَهُ

وما تَجشَّمَ مِنْ بَيْنٍ وأَسْفَار

In you, homesick is each far wanderer cured

Of hardship and journey however endured

يَلْقى بها أينما أَلقَى عَصَاه بِها

أَهلاً بأَهْلٍ وأَصْهاراً بأصْهار

Wherever he wanders, he finds, casting his cane

Kinsmen, and in-laws, and brethren again

وفِتْيةً كرِماحِ الخطِّ إِنْ خَطَرُوا

فَدَيْتَ بالنّفسِ منهم كلَّ خَطَّار

Young men, like straight arrows whenever they stirred

With their souls you’d ransom every brave knight

بِيضَ الوُجُوهِ مَساميحَ الأكُفِّ مَنا

جِيدَ الصَّريخِ سَرَاةً غيرَ أَغْرار

Of beaming faces and gentle palms, they

Neigh shrill, and ride swift, and never betray

لا يَنزِل الضَّيفُ صُبْحاً عُقرَ دارِهمُ

إِلاّ ويُمْسِي عِشاءً صاحِبَ الدار

A guest in the morn ne’er leaves ere the eve

Unless like the home folk he’s made to believe

قد آمنُوا بإِلَهِ الحُبِّ وارْتَقَبُوا

آياتِهِ بَيْنَ إجْلالٍ وإِكْبار

They believed in the god of love and vied

To exalt and revere his signs as they spied

وصوَّرُوهُ فَتىً أعْمَى إِذا رَشَقَتْ

يَدَاهُ بالنَّبْل أصْمَى كُلَّ جَبَّار

A blind lad they fancied, his hands though may fling

Arrows to smite even the tyrant and king

عُرْيانَ إِنْ مَسَّهُ بَرْدُ الشتاءِ فما

له سِوَى زَفَراتِ الوَجْدِ منْ نار

Bare flesh, if touched by the stab of the cold

Save his sighs of passion, shelter can’t hold

يَغْشَى الفَتاةَ ولَمْ تَرْقُبْ زِيارَتهُ

وخِدْرُها بَيْنَ أَغْلاقٍ وأَسْتار

A girl he’d surprise unaware of his tread

As she dreams, curtained in her veil and bed

فَطَرْفُها خاشِعٌ من بَعْدِ زَوْرَتِهِ

وقَلْبُها نَهْبُ أَوْهامٍ وأَفْكارِ

Then her eyes after his visit seem shy

And her heart is the prey of fancies gone awry

تَشْكُو إِلَى أُمّها ضَيْفاً ألمَّ بِها

والأُمُّ إِنْ تَسْتطِعْ باحَتْ بأَسْرارِ

To her mother she moans of the pain love has brought

And the mother divines, though the secret she caught not

ويصْرَعُ الفارِسَ المِغْوارَ إِن لَعِبَتْ

كَفّاهُ بالسَّيْفِ أرْدَى كلَّ مِغْوَار

A rider sways and tumbles, if playfully teased

By her hands with the sword, though valiant and pleased

فلا تراهُ سِوَى شاكٍ لسَاجِعَةٍ

أو نادِبٍ إِثرَ أَطْلالٍ وآثار

You never find him except sadly awake

By relics and ruins his tears to partake

ويَطْرُقُ الشَّيْخَ في المِحْرابِ قَدْ فَنِيَتْ

عِظَامُهُ وَبَرَتْهُ خَشْيَةُ البَاري

An old man, whose frame out of worship now shakes

His bones brittle, his flesh reverent fear takes

فلم تكُنْ لَمْحَةٌ إِلاّ ليَفْتِلَهُ

من الصَّلاةِ ومن تَرْتيلِ أذْكار

No glance his but snatches him swiftly away

From praying, from counting beads as they pray

يبرُزْنَ في اللَّيْل مِثْلَ الشُّهْبِ ساطِعةً

ما بَيْنَ سيَّارَةٍ تَجْرِي لِسَيّار

Girls sally at night, bright as comets that run

’Twixt a moving planet and stiller one

مِنْ كلِّ خَمْصَانَةِ الكَشْحَيْنِ ناصِعَةٍ

كأَنّها دُرَّةٌ في جَوْفِ زخّار

From each dimpled cheek shines, in necklaces set,

A pearl, as if hid in an oyster wet

تَسْعَى إِلى أغْيَدٍ ما طَرَّ شَارِبُهُ

كأنَّما صَفْحَتاهُ وجْهُ دِينارِ

Towards cups that are bared, though the drinkers are shunned

As if made of the gold in pure sunlight spun

أرضٌ كَأَنَّ إِلَهَ الأرْضِ أَوْدَعَها

بَدائِعُ الْحُسْنِ مِنْ عُونٍ وأَبْكار

A land, as though the land’s god had willed to accord

The perfections of beauty, all stored

أَلقَوْا خُدُودَ العَذَارَى في حَدَائِقِها

ولَقَّبُوها بأَثْمَارٍ وأَزْهار

In its orchards, they threw out the cheeks of sweet maids

And named them all blossoms and fruits in its glades

وجرَّدُوا كُلَّ حُسْنٍ من قَلائِده

فَصِرْنَ حَصْباءَ في سَلْسَالها الجَاري

Of each charm there, all jewels and necklaces they rid

And so they were pebbles dragged by brooks as they slid

لَوْ كانَ في عُنْصُرِي صَلْصالُ طِينَتِها

ما راعَني الدّهْرُ في يومٍ بأكْدَار

Had I a speck of the clay of its build

No day would the world leave me damaged and spilled

أوْ كُنْتُ أظْفرُ في الأخْرَى بِجَنَّتِها

غَسَلْتُ بالدمْعِ آثامي وأوْزاري

Or, succeeding, the heaven I lastly could gain

My sins and misdeeds I’d wash off in its rain