شَطَّت بَجَمرَةَ دارٌ بَعدَ إلمامِ

نَأَي وَطول بِعادٍ بَينَ أَقوامِ

A house was ruined after prosperity,

Remote and long separated from kinsfolk.

حَلَّت بِتَيماءَ في قَومٍ إِذا اِجتَمعوا

في الصُبحِ نادى مُندايهِم بِأَشآمِ

It lodged in Taima' among a people who,

When they gather in the morning, their crier calls to ruin.

وَقَد لَهَوتُ بِها وَالدارُ جامِعَةٌ

بِالخَرجِ فَالنَهي فَالعَوراءِ فَالدَامِ

And I have reveled in it while it was a rallying-place

For al-Kharj, then an-Nahy, then al-'Awra' and ad-Dam.

حَتّى اشتَفى وَشفى مِنها لُبانَتهُ

وَما يَزيدُ شِفاءً غَيرَ اِسقامِ

Until my sickness for it was healed,

And naught increases healing save sickness.

كَأَنَّ جَمرَةَ أَو عَزَّت لَها شَبهاً

في العَينِ يَومَ تَلاقينا بَأَرمامِ

As if Jamra or, mayhap, 'Azza resembled it

To my eye the day we met at Arma.

مَيثاءُ جادَ عَلَيها مُسبَل هَطلٌ

فَامرَعَت لِاِحتِيالِ فَرطَ أَعوامِ

Maytha poured on it a torrential rain,

So it became good for nothing through loss of years.

إِذا يَجِفُّ ثَراها بَلَّها ديمٌ

مِن كَوكَبٍ نَزل بِالماءِ سَجّامِ

When its ground dried up, continuous rain wetted it

From a star that descended with pouring water.

لَم يَرعَها أَحَدٌ وأربَتّا زَمَناً

فَأوٌ مِنَ الأَرضِ مَحفوفٌ بِأَعلامِ

None pastured it, so it remained wild a long time,

Preceded by an owl from the earth with flags.

تَسمَعُ لِلطَيرِ في حافاتِها زَجِلاً

كَأَنَّ أَصواتَها أَصواتُ جُرّامِ

You hear for its birds in its environs a warbling

As if their voices were the voices of dragging chains.

كَأَنَّ ريحَ خُزاماها وَحَنوَتِها

بِاللَيلِ ريحُ يَلَنجوجٍ وَأَهضامِ

As if the wind of its chamomile and lavender

Were by night the wind of Yalnjawj and Ahdam.

أَلَيسَ جَهلاً بِذي شَيبٍ تَذكُرُهُ

مَلهى لَيالٍ خَلَت مِنهُ وَأَيامِ

Is it not folly in a hoary old man

To recall a playground of bygone days and years,

وَمَنهَلٍ لا يَنامُ القَومُ حَضَرتَهُ

مِنَ المَخافَةِ أُجنٌ ماؤُهُ ظامي

And a watering-place whose people did not sleep

For fear its bitter water was poisoned?

قَد بِتُّ أَحرُسُهُ وَحدي وَيَمنَعُني

صَوتُ السِباعِ بِهِ يَضبَحنَ وَالهامِ

I would keep watch over it alone though the sounds

Of wild beasts in it would greet me at morn and dusk.

ما كانَ إِلّا إِطِّلاعي في مُدالَجَةٍ

ثُمَّ اِنصِرافي إِلى وَجناءَ مِجذامِ

That was only my entering it furtively,

Then returning to the shelter of a perforated Mihjam.

أَفرَغتُ في حَوضِها صُفناً لِتَشرَبَهُ

في داثِر خَلقِ الأَعضادِ أَهدامِ

I poured in its basin a skin to drink from

In the ruins of the encampments of A'dad's descendants.

فَعافَت الماءُ وَاِستافَت بِمَشفَرِها

ثُمَّ اِستَمَرَّت سَواءُ طَرفِها سامِ

But the water was foul, so it retched with its nozzle,

Then its spout continued pouring unchecked.

صَدَّت كَما صَدَّ عَمّا لا يَحِلُّ لَهُ

ساقي نَصارى قَبيلِ الفَصحِ قَوامِ

It acted as one acts who may not legally drink

Wine from a Nazarene's hand before Easter's end.

أَرمي بِها بَلَداً تَرميهِ عَن بَلَدٍ

حَتّى أُنيخَت عَلى أَحواضِ ضِرسامِ

I cast it toward a land which casts it away from land

Until it was set down on the cisterns of Dirsam.