حَيَّ عنّي مُنحني الوادي وأثلَه

ورُبَى سَلْعٍ على النأي ورَمْلَهْ

Greet for me the valley’s bend and its tamarisks,

and the hills of Salʿ, though far away, and its sands.

فبه ملعبُ أنسٍ صرتُ مذْ

بانَ أهلوه مِنَ التبريح مُثْلَه

There lies a playground of delight; since

its people left, anguish has made me its very likeness.

لا عدا بانَ اللَّوى مِن أدمعي

صيَّبٌ يسقيهِ مِن جفني ونَخْلَه

May the bān trees of al-Liwā never lack, from my tears,

a downpour from my eyelids to water them and their palms.

فلكمْ لي في ظلالِ البانِ مِن

موقفٍ بكَّيتُهُ وجداً وأهلَه

For every station of mine beneath the bān trees’ shade,

I have wept in longing for it and for its people.

ولكمْ لي نحوَ سكانِ الحِمى

مِن حنينٍ كلَّما استغشيتُ ظِلَّه

And how much yearning I bear toward the sanctuary’s dwellers

whenever I wrap myself in its shade:

حنَّةٌ أُعقِبُها مِن أَلَمٍ

أنَّةً لو أنّها تنقعُ غُلَّه

a moan that pain makes me follow

with a groan—if only it could quench the burning thirst.

كيف أرجو راحةً مِن بعدِما

سدَّدَ التفريقُ نحوَ القلبِ نَصلَه

How can I hope for rest after

separation aimed its arrowhead straight at my heart?

أو أُرى بعدَهمُ مبتسماَ

جَذِلاً والبينُ قد ازمعَ رحلَه

Or be seen smiling after them,

rejoicing, when sundering has resolved upon its journey?

فوَّقَ البينُ اليهمْ سهمَهُ

ليتَه كفَّ عنِ الأحبابِ نَبْلَه

Separation nocked its shaft against them—

if only it had withheld its arrows from the beloved!

فكأنَّي بأُهيلِ المُنحنى

للنوى والبينِ قد شَدُّوا الأكِلَّهْ

It is as though I see the dear folk of the valley bend

tightening their trappings for distance and departure.

لم يُبَقَّ الهجرُ لي مِن أدمُعي

لِودَاعِ القومِ والتفريقُ فَضْلَه

Estrangement left me none of my tears

for the people’s farewell; separation spared no remainder.

أيُّ صبرٍ يومَ تنأَى بهمُ

عيسُهمْ ينأَى عنِ الصبَّ المولَّه

What patience can there be on the day when, bearing them away,

their white camels recede from the love-distraught lover?

أينُقٌ كم ذرعتْ مَرْتاً وكم

قطعتْ حَزْنَ الفلا وخداً وسَهْلَه

She-camels that have crossed so many open wastes,

traversing the desert’s rugged ground at speed, and its level plains;

تَتهادى في البُرى مُرقِلَةً

كالحنايا تنهبُ الخرقَ وهَجْلَه

swaying forward in their nose-rings at a brisk pace,

like curving bows, devouring the vast waste and its open reaches.

عُقِرَتْ كم مِن فلاةٍ جبتُها

بعدَها فوقَ شِمِلًّ أو شِمِله

Hamstrung be that camel! How many a wilderness I traversed

after her, on one lean and fleet mount or another.

ليس يثنيها زمامٌ كلَّما

جاذبتينهِ ولا ترهبُ صَلَّه

No rein can turn her aside whenever

you pull against it, nor does she fear a serpent.

ترتمي كالهيَْقِ بي معنِقَةً

فوقَها حِدْنُ سِفارٍ لنْ يَملَّه

She lunges on like a male ostrich, carrying me at full stretch,

and on her rides a travel-hardened companion who never wearies of it.

كلَّما أومضَ برقٌ خالَه

ثغرَ سلمَى حينَ حيَّتْه بِقُبْلَه

Whenever lightning flashes, he imagines it

Salmā’s teeth as she greets him with a kiss:

بارقٌ كالسيفِ أمضى مُصْلَتاً

يتراءَى أسهرَ المضنَى المُدَلَّه

a lightning flash, keener than an unsheathed sword,

showing itself and keeping the wasted, bewildered lover awake.

ذكرَ العهُدَ بهِ لمّا انتضَى

سيفَهُ في حِندسِ الليلِ وسَلَّه

He recalled the old covenant there when the lightning drew

its sword in the pitch-black night and bared it.

ورضَابٍ شَبِمٍ مُنَّيتُه

منه بعدَ البينِ في أيسرِ نَهْلَه

And cool saliva I was promised,

one easy sip from it after separation—

خَصِرٍ بُغْيَتُه في وِرْدِه

حبَّذاهُ منعَ التَّرحالُ عَلَّه

cool—my longing fixed upon drinking from it.

How sweet it was! Travel denied me a second draught.

فعسى يُنقِذُه البعدُ وقد

ذاقَ منه ما كفاه ولعلَّه

Perhaps distance will yet deliver him, although

he has tasted enough of it—and perhaps,

اِنْ يمتْ مِن فرطِ وجدٍ وهوىً

هذه سنَّةُ أهلِ الحبَّ قبلَه

if he dies from excess longing and passion,

that is only the way of lovers before him.

مغرمٌ يسأَلُ ربعاً دائراً

قد محاهُ دمعُهُ إلا أقلَّه

An infatuated man questions a vanished encampment

that his tears have erased, except for the faintest trace.

لا تلُمْهُ في غرامٍ نالَهُ

فخليلُ المرِء مَنْ أنجدَ خِلَّه

Do not blame him for a passion that befell him:

a man’s true friend is the one who comes to his friend’s aid.

أَتُرَجَّي طمعاً أن يهتدي

في دجى الحبَّ مَنِ الشوقُ أضلَّه

Do you hope, out of sheer desire, that he will find guidance

in love’s darkness, when yearning has led him astray?

ما سرتْ ريحُ الصَّبا مِن نشرِها

نحوَه إلا وقد راجعَ خبلَه

Whenever the east wind travels, bearing her fragrance

toward him, his madness returns.

تنتجيهِ بحديثٍ حَس

أحسنتْ عن ظبيةِ الوعساءِ نقلَه

It draws him aside with a lovely tale,

faithfully relayed from the gazelle of the sandy tract.

يا نسيماً هبَّ مِن روضِ الِحمى

حَيَّ مَنْ بانَ عنِ الجِزعِ وحلَّه

O breeze that rose from the sanctuary’s meadow,

greet the one who left the river bend and its encampment.

عثرَ الدهرُ بهِ بعدَهمُ

ليته قالَ وقد زلَّلعاً لَه

Time stumbled over him after their departure;

if only, when it slipped, it had cried, “Rise again!”

غدروا مِن بعدِ عهدٍ أحكموا

عقدَهُ كيف تولَّى البعدُ حلَّه

They betrayed him after making firm a covenant—

its knot: how did distance come to undo it?

شيمةٌ للدهرِ لا أُنكِرُها

عُرِفَتْ منه فما أجهَلُ فِعْلَه

It is Time’s wont; I do not deny it.

I know it well and am not ignorant of its ways.

كم دمٍ راحَ جُباراً في الهوى

عندَهُ أجراهُ في الوجدِ وطلَّه

How much blood has gone unavenged in love,

blood Time shed in passion and left without redress.

هوَّنَ الحبَّ على أربابِهِ

فلكم يصحَبُ للعشّاقِ ابلَه

It has abased the lover before those who master him;

how often it sends its camels to accompany lovers—

اِبِلاً ذَلَّلَها قهراً فكمْ

فوقَها للمتطَيها مِن مَذَلَّه

camels it has broken by force; how much

abasement falls on those who ride them!

فسقَى الله على علاتِهِ

زمنَ الوصلِ حَيا الدمعِ ووَبْلَه

May God water, despite all its imperfections,

the days of union with the life-giving rain of tears and its downpour.