هل بعدَ وصالِكَ مِن وَطَرِ

أم بعدَ فراقِكَ مِنْ حَذَرِ

After meeting you, is there anxiety?

Or after parting from you, is there caution?

كانا سبباً للدمعِ عَقَي

بَ نوى الأحبابِ وللسَّهرِ

Both caused tears to flow copiously

And love for loved ones and sleeplessness

يا صبرُ سرى الخُلاّنُ فكنْ

مِن بعدِ البينِ على الأثرِ

Oh patience, spread your trained falcon

After separation, back to the trace

دمعي في الربعِ وقد بانوا

يَغني الأطلالَ عنِ المطرِ

My tears in the pasture are manifest

The ruins suffice instead of rain

والبرقُ لقيتُ شرارتَه

من نارِ غراميَ بالشَّرَرِ

And lightning, I met its spark

From the fire of my love with sparks

والليلُ أراهُ ولا يُفضي

مِن فرطِ الشوقِ إلى سَحَرِ

And the night, I see it but it does not reveal

From intense longing, until dawn

قد كنتُ أنامُ ولي طرفٌ

ما كان تعرَّضَ للخطرِ

I used to sleep while my eyelid

Did not expose itself to danger

واليوَمِ أذودُ كرى العينينِ

لأجلِ نواكَ عنِ البصرِ

And today I protect the memory of the two eyes

For your sake, from sight

يا بدرَ دجًى لم يبدُ لنا

اِلاّ وغَنِيتُ عنِ القمرِ

O full moon of darkness that did not shine for us

Except that I was needless of the moon

وقضيباً ماسَ وما الأوراقُ

ترفُّ عليه سوى الشَّعَرِ

A straight stick that the leaves

Do not flutter upon except the hair

ما كنتُ بوصلكَ مقتنعاً

فقنِعتُ لبعدِكَ بالخَبرِ

I was not content with your connection

So I was content, with your distance, with news

علِّقتُكَ غِرّاً والأهواء

فبدأُها عَبَثُ الغَرَرِ

I attributed you to glory and the passions

Started with it the vanity of delusion

ومصيرُ دمِ العشاقِ متى

طُلَّتْ في الحبِّ إلى الهَدَرِ

And the fate of the blood of lovers when

Prolonged in love, to waste

عندي شكوًى لنواكَ

يَرِقُّ لشكواها قلبُ الحَجَرِ

I have a complaint to your tenderness

That melts for its complaint the heart of stone

وبليتُ بوخزِ هوًى قَصُرتْ

عنه في القلبِ شبا الاِبَرِ

And I was pierced by the sting of an infatuation, which

Falls short, in my heart, of the needles

كم بتُّ أؤمِّلُ في النسماتِ

عبيَر تأرُّجِكَ العَطِرِ

How often I wish in the breeze

The fragrance of your sweet-scented perfume

واِذا الأوطانُ خلتْ ودِّعْ

ما كنتَ تؤمِّلُ مِن وَطَرِ

And if the homelands are empty, farewell,

You were not hoping for pasture

ومُعَنَّى باتَ وقد قَدَحَتْ

في أضلُعِهِ نارُ الفِكَرِ

And someone stayed up whom anxiety

Had kindled in his ribs the fire of thought

يهوى أغصانَ قدودِ

الهِيفِ وما فيهنِّ مِنَ الأطَرِ

Yearning for the branches of ochre

Moringa and what fragrance they contain

ووجوهُ الغيدِ يُكلِّلَها

عَرَقُ كالدُّرِّ مِنَ الخَفَرِ

And the faces of the young women crowned

With sweat like pearls from the chin veils

يا لوعةَ ساعِة بينهمُ

قد حَقَّ البعدُ فلا تَذَري

Oh the agony of an hour between them

When distance prevails, so do not chide

في الصدرِ غليلُ هوًى ما فا

زَ بورِدِ الوصلِ ولا الصَّدَرِ

In my chest, the discontent of an infatuation which was not relieved

By the intimacy of union or the breast

فعلامَ هجرتَ أمِنْ شَيْبٍ

جلبتْهُ اليَّ يدُ الفِكَرِ

Why did you shun, was it from old age

That thinking brought upon me?

أم مِن واشٍ أجرى العبَراتِ

رماينُهُ لي بالقِصَرِ

Or from a comrade who shed my tears?

His arrows at me with shortcoming

مِنْ عاشَ رأى طولَ الأيا

م وقد أدَّتْهُ إلى الغِيَرِ

Whoever lived saw the length of days

And it led him to others

وبُريقٍ باتَ يُؤرِّقني

فَعَقَدْتُ بلمعتِهِ نَظَري

And a lightning that kept me awake

So I closed my eyes at its gleam

وحكيتُ تسعُّرَهُ في الجوِّ

مِنَ الأشواقِ بِمُسْتَعِرِ

And I imagined its kindling in the air

From the passions, with a spark

وصبرتُ على مَضَضِ التسهيد

وطعمُ الصَّبْرِ فكالصَّبِرِ

And I was patient with the pain of loss

And the taste of patience is like bitterness

يا قلبُ وكم لكَ مِن عُلقٍ

بالحُورِ قديماً والحَوَرِ

Oh heart, how much you are attached

To the fair women, long ago and the lovely doe eyed women

نزعتْ بكَ نحوهمُ حُرَقٌ

أجِّجْنَ بنارٍ مِنِ ذِكرٍ

A passion pulled you toward them

Kindled by a fire from the recollection

فِالامَ تَعَلَّلُ دون السُّمْرِ

وقد هجروكَ وبالسَّمَرِ

So why do you shun wine?

And they abandoned you, and with wine

وإِلامَ وقوفُكَ في دِمَنٍ

للبينِ بوالٍ كالسُّطُرِ

And why do you stand in a land

Of separation, bewildered like a line?

نظمَ الشعراءُ وما بَقَّوا

فخراً في القولِ لِمُفْتَخِرِ

The poets versified, and they did not remain

Proud in speech, for the proud

وَشَّوا زهرَ الأشعارِ فقد

كَرَبتْ تختالُ على الزُّهُرِ

And adorned the flowers of poetry, but

Excess adorns itself over flowers

ونظمتُ فجئتُ بما أَربى

حسناً وأنافَ على الدُّرَرِ

And I versified, and came with what is more seemly

In beauty, and more excellent over pearls

كَلِمٌ كالروضِ أوشيهنّ

بلا عي وبلا حَصَرِ

Words like a meadow I adorned them

Without blemish and without limit

تُلهي النَّدمانَ إذا ما فاه

به الركبانُ عنِ السُّكُرِ

They entertain the companion when the travelers

In it are diverted from intoxication

رامُوا ورميتُ فكم قوسٍ

لهمُ في الشِّعرِ بلا وَتَر

They wanted and I shot, so how many bows

For them in poetry without a bowstring?

ولئن عجزوا فقلد حَرَصُوا

ما الحِرصُ مُناطٌ بالظَّفَرِ

And if they are incapable, they nevertheless aspired

For aspiration is not contingent on success

سلبوا الأعرابَ كلامَهمُ

وتعاورَهمْ عَجْزُ الحَصَرِ

They robbed the Bedouins of their speech

And the frustration of comprehension overwhelmed them

وتتايهَ أكثرُهمْ حُمْقاً

بالشِّعرِ على أهلِ الوبَرِ

And most of them wander foolishly

In poetry among the people of the dwellings

جَهِلوا الأشياءَ ولم أجهلْ

نقصَ التحجيلِ عنِ الغُرَرِ

They were ignorant of things and I was not ignorant

Of the shortcoming of counterfeiting over grave matters

فازَ القدماءُ بفضلِ السبقِ

وأين الصفوُ مِنَ الكَدَرِ

So the ancients won by the merit of precedence

And where is purity from turbidity?