أَمِنْ رَسْمِ دارٍ ماءُ عَيْنَيكَ يَسْفَحُ

غَدا من مُقامٍ أَهْلُهُ وتَرَوَّحُوا

Is it from the abode's sketch that the water of your eyes spills

Tomorrow, from a dwelling whose people departed and went on an excursion?

تُزَجِّي بِها خُنْسُ الظِّباءِ سِخالَها

جَآذِرُها بالجَوِّ وَرْدٌ وأَصْبَحُ

You adorn it with the shy gazelles' young, their smooth coats

Its roots are flowers and roses in the atmosphere and mornings

أَمِنْ بِنْتِ عَجْلانَ الخَيالُ المُطَرَّحُ

أَلَمَّ ورَحْلِي ساقِطٌ مُتَزَحْزِحُ

Or is it the imagined daughter of Ajlan, the discarded imagination

That coerced my riding camel and made it stagger and waver?

فلمَّا انْتَبَهْتُ بالخَيالِ وراعَنِي

إذا هُوَ رَحْلِي والبِلادُ تَوَضَّحُ

When I woke up from the imagination, it startled me

There was my camel, and the horizons became clear

ولكِنَّهُ زَوْرٌ يُيَقِّظُ نائِماً

ويُحْدِثُ أَشْجاناً بقَلْبِكَ تَجْرَحُ

But it is falsehood that awakens a sleeper

And stirs passions in your heart that wound

بِكُلِّ مَبِيتٍ يَعْتَرِينا ومَنْزِلٍ

فلوْ أَنَّها إذْ تُدْلِجُ اللَّيْلَ تُصْبحُ

In every night that befalls us and every stopover

If only when it makes the night dark, it dawns

فوَلَّتْ وقد بَثَّتْ تباريحَ ما تَرى

ووجْدي بها إذْ تَحْدُرُ الدَّمْعَ أَبْرَحُ

It turned away after spreading the sights it sees

While my love for it, when tears roll down, does not diminish

وما قَهْوَةٌ صَهْباءُ كالمِسْكِ ريحُها

تُعَلَّى على النَّاجُودِ طَوْراً وتُقْدَحُ

A gray coffee, whose aroma is like musk

Is brewed over embers for a while and sipped

ثَوَتْ في سِباءِ الدَّنِّ عِشْرِينَ حِجَّةً

يُطانُ عليها قَرْمَدٌ وتَرَوَّحُ

She camped in the lowlands of vileness for twenty pilgrimages

Above which a shabby cloak flaps as she takes excursions

سَباها رِجالٌ من يَهُودَ تَباعَدُوا

لِجِيلانَ يُدْنيها من السُّوقِ مُرْبِحُ

Some Jews who have spread out bought her

Two scoundrels bring her closer to the market for profit

بأَطْيَبَ مِنْ فيها إذا جئْتَ طارِقاً

منَ اللَّيْلِ بَلْ فُوها أَلَذُّ وأَنْصَحُ

With the most delicious thing in it, when you come visiting

At night, rather, its flavor is more delicious and pure

غَدَوْنا بِصافٍ كالعَسِيبِ مُجَلَّلٍ

طويناهُ حِيناً فَهْوَ شِربٌ مُلَوَّحُ

We went in the morning, clear as chrysolite, adorned

We folded it for a while, and it is brackish water

أَسِيلٌ نَبِيلٌ ليسَ فيهِ مَعابَةٌ

كُمَيْتٌ كَلَوْنِ الصِّرْفِ أَرْجَلُ أَقْرَحُ

A generous, noble horse, no defects in it

Mute, like the color of money, shanks mottled and pockmarked

على مِثْلِهِ آتِي النَّدِيَّ مُخايِلاً

وأَغْمِزُ سِرّاً أًيُّ أَمْرَيَّ أَرْبَحُ

The like of it, I come visiting the neighbor coquettishly

And wink secretly: which matter of mine is more profitable?

ويَسْبِقُ مَطْرُوداً ويَلْحَقُ طارِداً

ويَخْرُجُ من غَمِّ المَضِيقِ وَيجْرَحُ

It outruns the chased and catches up with the chaser

And emerges from the narrowness of adversity, wounded

تَراهُ بِشِكَّاتِ المُدَجِّجِ بَعْدَ ما

تقَطَّعَ أَقْرانُ المُغِيرَةِ يَجْمَحُ

You see it, after the studded saddle blankets were

Torn, with the brisk ones' reins, attack

شَهِدْتُ بِهِ في غارَةٍ مُسْبَطِرَّةٍ

يُطاعِنُ أُولاها فِئامٌ مُصَبَّحُ

I witnessed it in a dreadful raid

Charging the vanguard, a bright sword unsheathed

كما انْتَفَجَتْ منَ الظِّباءِ جَدايَةٌ

أَشَمُّ إذا ذَكَّرْتَهُ الشَّدَّ أَفْيَحُ

As if, from the gazelles, a rock partridge burst forth

When you remind it of firmness, I smell its scent, fragrant

يَجُمُّ جُمُومَ الحِسْيِ جاشَ مَضِيقُهُ

وجَرَّدَهُ من تَحْتُ غَيْلٌ وأَبْطَحُ

It collects like the mourning camel, its difficulty peaked

And a deluge stripped it, from beneath, of high ground and dunes