هاجَتْكَ إذْ جئْتَ اللّوى فزَرودا

ذِكْراكَ أوْطاناً بِها وعُهودا

When you came to al-Liwā, then Zarūd, there stirred in you

the remembrance of homelands there, and of pledges.

عاثَتْ بهِنّ يَدُ الزّمانِ فلمْ تجِدْ

أعْلامُهُنّ عنِ العَفاءِ مَحيدا

Time's hand had ravaged them, nor did

their landmarks find any escape from effacement—

إلا مَواقِدَ كالحَمامِ جَواثِماً

وترى بأظْلافِ الظِّباءِ كَديدا

nothing but hearthstones crouching like doves,

and ground worn hard beneath gazelles' hooves.

دِمَنٌ غُذيَتْ بهِنّ أخْلافَ الهَوى

ولبِسَ ريْعانُ الشّبابِ جَديدا

Ruined encampments where passion's udders had been fed,

and which donned the first bloom of youth anew;

وركضْتُ طِرْفَ اللّهْوِ في شأْوِ الصِّبا

مَرَحاً فجُزْتُ مَدى النّعيمِ بَعيدا

where I raced pleasure's spirited steed along youth's course,

exultant, and it ran far across delight's expanse.

مالِي وتَذْكارَ الصّبابةِ والصِّبا

ومَواثِقاً عنْدَ الهَوى وعُهودا

What have I to do with recalling lovesickness and youth,

or compacts and pledges made in passion's keeping?

وصَباحُ شَيْبِ الفَوْدِ لاحَ بمَفْرِقي

فغدَوْتُ منْ فقْدِ الصِّبا مفْؤودا

The dawn of gray at my temples has gleamed along my part,

and through youth's loss I have become heart-stricken.

إنّا الى الرّحْمانِ مِنْها أنْفُساً

بُوِّئْنَ من ظُلْمِ الجُسودِ لُحودا

From it, we souls are bound toward the All-Merciful,

lodged by the tyranny of bodies in tombs.

نُسِيَتْ عَوالِمَها الكِرامُ فنُورُها

تسْتامُهُ أيْدي الهَوى تبْديدا

Her noble worlds were forgotten; as for her light,

the hands of desire consign it to dispersal.

واسْتَوْتَرَتْ شبَحاً خلاءً لمْ يزَلْ

لخَفيّ مَعْناها الأثيرِ ضَديدا

She hid herself within a vacant phantom that has never ceased

to oppose her hidden, ethereal meaning.

تَردُ الأُجاجَ مرَنَّقاً ولَطالَما

وردَتْ بأكْنافِ العُذَيْبِ بَرودا

She comes to turbid brine, though many a time

she drank cool waters around al-ʿUdhayb.

هلاّ اسْتَظَلّتْ دوْحَةُ القُدْسِ التي

كَرَعَتْ قُبيْلَ الكوْنِ فيه مَديدا

If only she had sought shade beneath the tree of holiness,

where, before created being, she drank long and deep;

وتذكّرَتْ عهْداً بمُنْعَرَجِ اللِّوى

لا يسْتَحيلُ وموْقِفاً مَشْهودا

and remembered, at al-Liwā's bend, a covenant

that cannot change—a witnessed compact;

ورَقَتْ مَعاريجَ العُلا لتَحوزَ في

سِمْطِ الجَلالِ نِظامَها المَعْهودا

and climbed the ascents of the heights, to gain

within majesty's necklace her accustomed setting.

ذَنْبي عداني عنْ لِحاقِ ذوي الهُدى

فغدَوْتُ عنْ دَرَكِ الرّشادِ طَريدا

My sin has kept me from joining those rightly guided,

so I have become an exile from attaining right guidance.