فَمِثلُكَ أَلوى بِالفُؤادِ وَزَارَ بال

عِدادِ وَأَصحا في الحَياةِ وَأَسكَرا

One like you my heart yearns for and my count of days

Visited and my companions in life made drunk

تَغَمَّرتُ مِنها بَعدَما نَفَذَ الصَبا

وَلَم يَروَ مِن ذي حاجَةٍ مَن تَغَمَّرا

I was immersed in it after the vigor of youth drained away

And none needing saw one immersed satiated

فَبِتُّ أُعاطيها الحَديثَ بِمُسنِفٍ

مِنَ اللَيلِ أَبقَتهُ الأَحاديُ أَخضَرا

So I spend the night conversing with a classified

Chronicle the dawns kept green

إِلى ظُعُنٍ ظَلَّت بِجَوِّ أُشاهِمٍ

فَلَمّا مَضى حَدُّ النارِ وَقَصَّرا

To thickets shaded in the air of archers

When the limit of fire passed and was cut off

تَواعَدنَ أَن لا وَعيَ عَن فَرجَ راكِسٍ

فَرُحنَ وَلَم يَغضِرنَ عَن ذاكَ مَغضَرا

They trysted that there be no consciousness of a mounted watcher

They rejoiced and the thickets about them made them not rueful

تَزاوَرنَ عَن مَردٍ وَدافَعنَ رَكنَهُ

لِمُنعَرَجِ الخابورِ حَيثُ تَخبَرا

They visited from a fickleness and repelled its pillar

To the winding stairwell where they experienced

وَعَبَّرنَ عَن فَرقيسَياءَ لِعَرعَرٍ

وَفُرضَةِ نُعمٍ ساءَ ذاكَ مَعَبَّرا

And they crossed hot sands to A'ra'ar

And saddle cushions that was a wretched crossing

تُقَطَّعُ غيطاناً كَأَنَ مُتونَها

إِذا ظَهَرَت تُكسى مُلاءً مُنَشَّرا

Fragmented shifts as if their textures

When they appeared were clad in a scattered fur coat

إِلى نِسوَةٍ مَنَّينَها بِمُثَقَّبٍ

أَمانِيَّ لا يُجدينَ عَنكَ حَبَربَرا

To women whose flanks were pierced

Vain hopes avail you not to guard them

عَلَيهِنَّ أَطرافٌ مِنَ القَومِ لَم يَكُن

طَعامُهُم حَبّاً بِزُغبَةَ أَغبَرا

Some people who would not

Feed on grain and clover grunted about them

لَقَد ظَعَنَت قَيسٌ فَأَلفَت بُيوتَها

بِسِنجارَ فَالأَجزاعِ أَجزاعِ دَوسَرا

Qais went mad so she frequented her dwellings

In Sinjar, then the thickets, thickets of Dawasir

وَقَد كانَ في الأَطهارِ أَو رَملِ فارِزٍ

أَوِ الدَومِ لَمّا أَن دَنا فَتَهَصَّرا

She had been among the sand dunes or Raml Fayruz

Or the sands whenever she came near and was sprinkled

غِنىً عَن مِياهٍ بِالمُدَيبِرِ مُرَّةٍ

وَعَن خَرِبٍ بُنيانُهُ قَد تَكَسَّرا

Needless of water with the wineskins sometimes

And of ruins her buildings collapsed

أَبَعدَ حُلولٍ بِالرِكاءِ وَجامِلٍ

غَدا سارِحاً مِن حَولِنا وَتَنَشَّرا

After sojourns in the stands and a union

She went travelling from our environs and scattered

تَبَدَّلَت إِصطَبلاً وَتَلّاً وَجَرَّةً

وَديكاً إِذا ما آنَسَ الفَجرَ فَرفَرا

Changed into a stable, hillock and lane,

And rooster that crows when dawn chuckles

وَبُستانَ ذي ثَورَينِ لا لينِ عِندَهُ

إِذا ما طغى ناطورُهُ وَتَغَشمَرا

A garden with two bulls with no tenderness in it

When its caretaker grew insolent and wrapped himself up

أَبا سالِمٍ إِن كُنتَ وُلّيتَ ما تَرى

فَأَسجِح فَقَد لا قَيتَ سَكناً بِأَبهَرا

Abu Salim if you have frequented what you see

Then plead for I have not found quarters in Abhar

فَلَمّا غَسى لَيلي وَأَيقَنتُ أَنَّها

هِيَ الأُرَبى جاءَت بِأُمِّ حَبَوكَرا

When my night grew dark and I felt assured it

Was the widest expanse there approached Umm Habukra

وَأَفلَتُّ مِن أُخرى تَقاصَرَ طَيرُها

عَشِيَّةَ أَدعو بِالسَتّارِ المُجَبِّرا

And I escaped from another whose bird grew short

In the evening I call for the veil that covers

فَزِعتُ إِلى القَصواءِ وَهيَ مُعَدَّةٌ

لِأَمثالِها عِندي إِذا كُنتُ أَوجَرا

I fled to one barren and she was prepared

For her like if I was mated became pregnant

كَثَورِ العَذابِ الفَردِ يَضرِبُهُ النَدى

تَعَلّى النَدى في مَتنِهِ وَتَحَدَّرا

Like the lonely bull that dew strikes

The dew climbs up its back and trickles down

تَقولُ وَقَد عالَيتُ بِالكورِ فَوقَها

يُسَقّي فَلا يَروى إِلَيَّ اِبنث أَحمَرا

She says as she rises the part above it

He waters but is not sated, red are her sons

أُخَبِّرُ مَن لا قَيتُ أَنّي مُبَصِّرٌ

وَكائِن تَرى مِثلي مِنَ الناسِ بَصَّرا

I inform those I have known that I can see plainly

And will be from men the like of me who see

أَلا قَلَّ خَيرُ الدَهرِ كَيفَ تَغَيَّرا

فَأَصبَحَ يَرمي الناسَ عَن قَرنِ أَعفَرا

Behold, little are the goods of fate, how they changed

And it took to pelt men from the ear of a rat-colored one

وَإِن قالَ غاوٍ مِن تَنوخٍ قَصيدَةً

بِها جَرَبٌ عُدَّت عَلَيَّ بِزَوبَرا

If some fool from Tenukh says a poem

In which there is fabrication accounted against me

وَيَنطِقُها غَيري وَأَكلَفُ جُرمَها

فَهَذا قَضاءٌ حَقُّهُ أَن يُغَيَّرا

And another recites it and I carry its blame

Then that is a judgment, its truth that it be altered

جَزى اللَهُ قَومي بِالأُبُلَّةِ نُصرَةً

وَبَدوا لَهُم حَولَ الفِراضِ وَحُضرا

May God reward my people defending me

And evil appeared to them about the noble and base

هُمُ خَلَطوني بِالنُفوسِ وَأَشفَقوا

عَلَيَّ وَرَدّوا البَختَرِيَّ المُؤمَّرا

They confused me among souls and were worried

For me and rebutted the perfumed Bacchic