أعيا العواذلَ ما عندي مِنَ الَكلَفِ

فيا خيولَهمُ دونَ المرامِ قِفي

I am worn out by the reproaches - I have no pretense

So stop, O their horses, before things get worse

يكلِّفُ القلبَ غيرَ عادتِه

مِنَ السلوِّ فوا لهفي مِنَ الُكَلفِ

The heart takes on what is not its custom

With such mischief - alas for all this pretense

يا عاذليَّ وِانْ ردَّدْتُما عَذَلي

فليس يُغنيكما ما فيه مِنَ سَرَفِ

O reproacher, even if you repeat your reproaches

It will not avail you, however excessive your extravagance

ما تحصلانِ على حالٍ يسُّركُما

مما تُجِدّانِ من لومٍ ومن عَنَفِ

You will not find a state that pleases you

With all the blame and violence that you dispense

ما ينفعُ العذلُ والاحبابُ قد رحلوا

عنمُنحني أجرَعِ الصَّمَّانِ والنَّجَفِ

Reproach and loved ones are of no use, now they have gone

Far from me, yet I pine for them nonetheless

كانَ الزمانُ بهمْ والعيشُ مبتهجٌ

حتى جَزَعنَ رمالَ المهمهِ القَذَفِ

There was a time when they were here, and life was joyful

Until the sands of desolation bore them hence

بانوا بكلِّ رداحٍ كالقضيبِ اِذا

ماستْ أغارتْ غصونَ البانِ بالهَيَفِ

They left to every far and desolate place, like an arrow

When it is loosed, and the branches of the bow flex tense

تَظَلُّ ترتعُ عيني في محاسِنها

كأنَّما رَتَعَتْ في روضةٍ أُنُفِ

My eyes still gaze at their beauties

As if they grazed in a lush, fragrant garden

غراءُ بَهنانةٌ لمياءُ بَهْكَنَةٌ

تميلُ بينَ دَلالِ التَّيهِ والتَّرَفِ

A lovely doe, a graceful gazelle

Swaying between the lures of wanderlust and indolence

كُفَّي لِحاظَكِ يا ذاتَ الوشاحِ فقد

أصبتِ منَّي مكانَ الوَجْدِ والشَّغَفِ

Enough, O veiled one, of your amorous glances, for you have

Attained in me the place of fervor and ardor intense

أصبتِ مني مكاناً أنتِ ساكنةٌ

فيه ومُسْتَوْطَنَ الأشواقِ والأسَفِ

You have attained in me a place where you reside

And where longings and sorrows have pitched their tents

لم تُغنِني السابريّات الدَلامُى وما

تَخِذْتُ مِن جُنَنٍ تَحمي ومِن حَجَفِ

The women I courted did not console me, nor did I

Take any pleasure to warm me or pretense to convince

ما زلتُ بالعهدِ قبلَ البينِ مُعْتَصِماً

فكيفَ بالعهدِ بعدَ البينِ ليس يَفِي

I kept true to our pact before we parted

So how can I now break it, when we are far hence?

نأتْ فغيَّرها طولُ البِعادِ وما

رعتْ هوايَ ولا ودَّي ولا شَغَفي

She went away, and the long separation changed her

She no longer heeds my love or affection intense

اِذا ذكَّرتُ أوقاتي ولذَّتَها

بها ألوذُ بفضلِ الأدمُعِ الذُّرُفِ

When I recall our times and the pleasures with her

I seek refuge in copious, gushing tears hence

يا أدمعي ن حدَّثي بعدَ الفراقِ بما

عندي ونُمَّي بأسرارِ الهوى وصِفي

O my tears, speak to me after our separation of what

I feel, and portray the secrets of passionate love, and dispense

قد كنتُ أكتُمُه والشملُ مؤتِلفٌ

واليومَ اصبحَ شملي غيرَ مؤتِلفِ

I used to hide it when we were together,

But today, that time of harmony makes no sense

هل بعدَ أن بانَ أحبابي وبدَّلني

بُعدُ الحبائبِ ذاكَ القربَ بالشَّظَفِ

After my loved ones left and distance replaced

That closeness with remoteness and distance immense

والعيسُ قد ثورَّت للبينِ حاملةً

تلكَ الهوادجَ في داجٍ مِنَ السَّدَفِ

And the camels are enraged by the separation, bearing

The litters in a covered enclosure's dark defense

يصونهنَّ عنِ الأبصارِ قاطبةً

وغيرُ بِدْعٍ حلولُ الدرَّ في الصَّدَفِ

Concealing them from all eyes completely

Without exception, as precious pearls in a shell intense

يُعيدُهنَّ على رغمِ الرقيبِ كما

قد كنتُ أعهدُ وخدُ الأينقِ الخُنُفِ

They return them despite the guard, as I

Used to visit the gentle, docile and shy, in pretense

تسري بكلَّ ربيطِ الجأْشِ مُدَّرِعٍ

عزماً أعادَ المطايا الخوصَ في كَنَفِ

Moving with every fully armed regiment

Resolved to restore the swift mares to our tribe's defense

كم فدفدٍ قَطَعَتْهُ وهي لاغِبةٌ

عُجْفٌ فللّهِ عزمُ اللُّغَّبِ والعُجُفِ

How many leagues they crossed, while she traveled afar

Exertion that only the ardent and zealous would commence

اِنْ فاتَها الوِردُ لم تَصْعَرْ اليهِ اِذا

تباعدَ المرتمى مِن شِدَّةِ الأَنَفِ

If she misses the flowers, she does not rage

When the goal is too remote, and the effort intense

سارَ الأحبَّةُ عن أرجاِ كاظمةٍ

فكم طريحٍ على آثارِهمْ سَهِفِ

The loved ones traveled far from the abodes of a patient one

So how many corpses lay prone across their path hence!

لو كانَ يومُ النوى والعيسُ سائرةٌ

وكلُّ صبَّ مِنَ التفريقِ في جَنَفِ

If it were the day of departure, the camels striding

And every draft of separation like a sword thrust tense

لم تلقَ غيرَ حشاً للبينِ مُضْطَرِبٍ

ومدمعٍ مِنْ اتيَّ الدمعِ مُغْترفِ

You would not find but grief for the separation, chaotic

And tears poured in profusion from eyes intense

ومُدْنَفٍ ضَلَّ عنه الرشدُ حين نأى

عنه الخليطُ فمَنْ للهائمِ الدَّنِفِ

And one crazed, reason lost when his dear ones went far

So who can guide the wanderer, mad and dense?

يُذكي صباباتِه تَذكارُ قربِهمُ

اِنَّ ادَّكارهمُ عونٌ على التَلَفِ

Recalling their nearness kindles his smoldering passions

For remembering them is balm for one whom sorrow rents

لم ينسَ لذةَ ما قد عُلَّ من شَنَبٍ

أحببْ بذلكَ مِن خمرٍ لمرتشفِ

He has not forgot the joy of that flirtation with one slender

For which he loved the wine he sipped ever since