تَلَفَّتُّ وَالرَملُ ما بَينَنا

وَأَعلامُ ذي بَقَرٍ أَو رُباهُ

The sands lie between us,

and the signs of the cattle herders or their riders,

فَقُلتُ عَلى طَرَباتِ الهَوى

عَسى الطَرفُ يَبلُغُهُم أَوكَراهُ

so I said hoping my gaze would reach them,

or that they would dislike and resent it.

فَما لَقِيَ الحُبُّ إِلّا الجَوى

وَلا بَلَغَ الطَرفُ إِلّا قَذاهُ

Love found nothing but sorrow,

and my gaze reached nothing but their hostility.

بِذِكري أَشُمُّ ثَرى أَرضِهِ

عَلى نَأيِهِ وَبِقَلبي أَراهُ

With my memory I inhale the earth they tread

in their absence, yet I see them in my heart.

عَسى مَن رَمى بِالمُحِبِّ الغَري

بِ مَرمىً بَعيداً يُقَضّي نَواهُ

May he who shot at the lover from afar

with a distant arrow, fulfill his intention.

وَتَدنو الدِيارُ بِسُكّانِها

تَمَنّي اِمرِىءٍ ما عَراكُم عَراهُ

The homelands approach with their inhabitants,

the wish of a man you did not know his condition.

أَصاحِ تَرى البَرقَ في لَمعِهِ

تَخَلُّجَ أَيمٍ يُلَوّي مَطاهُ

O friend, do you see the lightning in its shine

twisting with grief to coil its rope?

وَقالوا سَناهُ عَلى رامَةٍ

وَيا بُعدَ مَوقِفِنا مِن سَناهُ

And they said his tooth is at Ramah,

while how far our stance is from his tooth!

دَعِ القَلبَ يَأرَقُ مِن ذِكرِهِم

فَقَد ذاقَ مِن بَينِهِم ما كَفاهُ

Let the heart stay awake with their memory

for it has tasted amongst them what suffices it.

فَلا حَطَّ إِلّا بِهِم رَحلَهُ

وَلا جادَ إِلّا عَليهِم حَياهُ

So it lowered its luggage but with them

and spent its life but upon them.