أَتَصرِفُ عَن لَيلى بِنا أَم تَزورُها
وَما صُرمُ لَيلى بَعدَ ما ماتَ زيرُها
Do you turn away from Layla or do you visit her?
And Layla's fate is not altered after her companion died
فَإِن يَكُ واراهُ التُرابُ فَرُبَّما
تَجَرَّعَ مِنّي غَصَّةً لا يُحيرُها
So if the dust covers him, perhaps
She will take a draught of grief from me that will not confuse her
أَلا لِيَلُم مَن ضَنَّ بِالمالِ نَفسَهُ
إِذا ضِبرِمٌ بانَت بِلَيلٍ خُدورُها
Oh, blame the one who was stingy with himself
When the cooking pot appeared at night, boiling
أَلا رُبَّما إِن حالَ لُقمانَ دونَها
تَرَبَّعَ بَينَ الأَروَتَينِ أَميرُها
Oh, perhaps if poverty befell Luqman
Her master sat cross-legged between the millstones
مُقابَلَةَ الثاياتِ ثاياتِ ضابِئٍ
مَراتِعَ مِنها لا تُعَدُّ شُهورُها
Opposite the permanent encampments of wandering Dhabyan
Whose pastures cannot be counted for months
بِصَحراءَ مِكماءٍ تُرَدُّ جُناتُها
إِلَيها الجَنى في ثَوبِ مَن يَستَثيرُها
In a barren, waterless desert whose gardens
Are restored to it, in the garb of one who excites them
إِذا هِيَ حَلَّت في خُزاعَةَ وَاِنتَوَت
بِها نِيَّةٌ زَوراءُ عَمَّن يَزورُها
When they alight in Khuza'ah, harbouring
An evil intention towards whoever visits them
فَرُبَّ رَبيعٍ بِالبَلاليقِ قَد رَعَت
بِمَستَنِّ أَغياثٍ بِعاقٍ ذُكورُها
Thus many a springtime they grazed
With bellowing camels, led by their masculine leaders
تَحَدَّرَ قَبلَ النَجمِ مِمّا أَمامَهُ
مِنَ الدَلوِ وَالأَشراطِ يَجري غَديرُها
Flowing down before the star, ahead of
The bucket and pulleys, running its torrent
وَرَحلٍ حَمَلنا خَلفَ رَحلٍ وَناقَةٍ
تَرَكنا بِعَطشى لا يُزَجّى حَسيرُها
And a convoy we followed, and a convoy and she-camel
We left thirsty, her guide unable to give her water
تَرَكنا عَلَيها الذِئبَ يَلطُمُ عَينَهُ
نَهاراً بِزَوراءِ الفَلاةِ نُسورُها
We left her to the wolf, gnawing her eye
By day in the empty wilderness, its lightning flashes
وَلَمّا بَلَغنا الجَهدَ مِن ماجِداتِها
وَبَيَّنَ مِن أَنسابِهِنَّ شَجيرُها
And when we reached the limit of their glory
And its lineage was made clear
تَجَرَّدَ مِنها كُلُّ صَهباءَ حُرَّةٍ
لِعَوهَجَ أَو لِلداعِرِيَّ عَصيرُها
Every free, noble lady among them
Stripped herself for unkemptness or for the vow of pilgrim sanctity
مَشى بَعدَما لا مُخَّ فيها بِآدِها
نَجابَةُ جَدَّيها بِها وَضَريرُها
She walked on, with no brains left in her head,
Her ancestry and her blindness guiding her
