أَلاَ ليتَ صبرِي لم يَبِنْ مثلَما بانُوا

لقد كان نِعْمَ المُسْتَعانُ إذا خانُوا

Alas! I wish my patience had not been revealed as they were revealed

Indeed, it would have been good help when they betrayed

ولكنْ أطاع البينَ مني أربعٌ

فؤادٌ ونوم واصطبار وسُلوان

But four things obeyed separation from me

A heart, sleep, patience, and night companionship

ولازَمني وَجْدٌ إذا حلّ بعضُه

بساحةِ سِرٍّ لم يُجاوِرْه كتمان

And sorrow clung to me when some of it

Visited the courtyard of a secret not shared with concealment

ودمعٌ إذا كَفْكَفْتُه فهْو وابِلٌ

وشوقٌ إذا أخفيتُه فهْو إعلان

And tears, when I held them back, poured forth

And longing, when I hid it, was made public

وسُقْمٌ إذا أخفيتُ ما بي تأكدتْ

به حُجَجٌ للعاشقين وبرهان

And sickness, when I hid what was in me, affirmed

Proofs for the lovers and evidence

فكم ليلةٍ ظلَّ اصْطبارِي كصُبْحِها

يُسامِرني فيها على الأَيْكِ حَنّان

So how many nights my patience remained like its morn

Conversing with me through the night gently

غريبٌ نأَى عنه حبيبٌ ومنزل

كما قد نأى عني حبيب وأوطان

A stranger, kept away from by a loved one and home

As my loved one and homelands have kept away from me

دعتْنِي وإياه فَريدةُمَهمهِ

أَنافتْ بها في ساحةِ الرمل أغصان

Solitude summoned us, it and I

To weep in the sands' courtyard, the branches bent

ينوح وأبكي غيرَ أنّ مدَامِعي

تَجود وما تَنْدَى لعينيه أجفان

I wail while my tears flow freely

Yet no eyelids moisten for his eyes

إذا خفَّ عني الشوقُ هزَّ جوانحي

بنوحٍ كما هزَّتْه في تِيكَ أَفْنان

When longing ebbs from me, my wings flutter

With lament like the bending branches of Tika

ولو ساعدتْني عزمةٌ من جناحِه

ليَمَّمتُ أحبابي بها حيثُ ما كانوا

Had determination from his wing aided me

I would have visited my loved ones wherever they were

رَعَى اللهُ عيشاً ناعماً سَمَحتْ به

لنا في ظهورِ الظاهرية أَزْمان

God guarded a comfortable, easy living

That our time with the Dhahiris allowed

فكان كما زار الخيالُ مسلِّما

وودَّع إلا أنني فيه يقظان

It was as if a dream had bid farewell

While I was awake within it

فكم لي تلك الرُّبا من عشيةٍ

تُغازِلني فيها لدى البان غزلان

So how many lovely evenings I had

Flirting with me there by the acacias, fawns

قُدودٌ حَكَتْهنَّ الغصون تهزُّها

روادفُ تَحكِيها من الرمل كثبان

Boughs braided by the branches that sway them

Hills told of them from the sand dunes

دُمىً عَبَدتْهُنَّ القلوبُ صَبابةً

كما عُبِدت في الجاهلية أَوْثان

Idols worshipped by hearts, maidens

As idols were worshipped in the times of ignorance