حتَّى متى بَينَ اللوى فالأجْرَعِ

لَوْماً فما أَمَرَّهُ في مَسمَعي

How long between the folds and rugged terrain

Have I been blamed, though it sounded not in my hearing?

وَيحَكَ لو كنتَ وفيّاً لم تَقلْ

ويحكَ لا تبكِ برَسْمٍ بلقعِ

Woe unto you! Had you been true, you'd not have said,

Woe unto you! Weep not with a tattooed face.

وهوَ الحمى سَقياً لأيّامِ الحِمى

فإنّها ولَّتْ ولمّا تَرْجعِ

While fever was giving drink during the days of fever

For indeed it has passed and will not return.

ما لك لا تَبكي بُكاءً بالأسى

بين رسومٍ وَبَوَالي أربُعِ

Why do you not weep a tearful weeping

Among ruins and sands all around?

بأدمعٍ بين الجفونِ حُوَّمٍ

وأدمعٍ على الخدود وُقّعِ

With tears among the eyelids, bent over,

And tears on the cheeks, poured down,

وزفرةٍ موصولةٍ بزفرةٍ

تَصْعَدُ عن نارِ حشىً مُلَذَّعِ

And sighs joined by sighs

Rising from the fire of an innards seared through,

وقفتَ في الدار بعينٍ لا ترى

تَغَيُّرَ الرّبْعِ وأذنٍ لا تعي

You stood in this abode with an eye that sees not

The change of the seasons, nor an ear that hears,

ولَوعةٍ بالشوقِ غيرِ لوعتي

وأضلعٍ في الوجد غير أضلُعي

And yearning not like my yearning,

And ribs not like my ribs in passion.

وإنّما يبكي بكائي شجناً

وَوَجِعٌ يعرف فيه وجَعي

But only my lamentation weeps for me in longing,

And a pain that knows my pain.

لو أنطَقَ المربَعَ وهو أخرسٌ

تَضَرُّعٌ أنْطَقَهُ تضرُّعي

If the ruins could speak, voiceless as they are,

My fervent plea gave them voice.

ووقعةٍ رَدّتْ قيانَ وُرْقِهِ

نَوائِحاً بِالحزنِ يَبكينَ مَعي

And a downpour that returned the leaves of the palms

Wailing in sorrow, weeping with me,

كَأَنَّها وما لها من أدمُعٍ

أعارها القطر سجالَ أَدمُعي

As though, without tears as they are,

The rain had lent them my flowing tears.

يا منزلاً تَنْشُرُه يدُ البلى

نَشْرَ يمان خَلَقٍ لم يُرْقعِ

O dwelling spread by the hand of decay

Like the spreading of Yeman, never mended!

بِاللَّه خَبِّرني أَأَنتَ رَبْعُهُمْ

أم أنْتَ مَرْعىً لِلظباءِ الرتَّعِ

By God, tell me, are you their encampment,

Or are you a pasture for the browsing gazelles?

فَقالَ بَل ربعُهُمُ وَإِنَّما

تَحَمّلَتْ عَنّي شموسُ مَطلَعي

So it said: “Nay, I am their encampment, though

The suns of my east have borne it from me,

أَدرئِةَ الغَوْطِ سَتَرنَ ظَبيَةً

تدير عَيْنَيْ فتنةٍ في البُرقعِ

Veiling gazelles safe from the calamities of time,

Turning the eyes of temptation in the face screens.

سَيفٌ وسَهمٌ لَحظُها وَلَهذَمٌ

يا عجباً لفتكها المُنَوَّع

Sword, arrows—their glances—and deadly blows!

Strange is their deadly enchantment.

كَأنّما تبسمُ إن مازحتها

عن بَرَدٍ بين بروقٍ لُمّعِ

As though smiling, if jesting with them,

Of coolness amid shining lightnings.”

كَأُقحُوانِ روضَةٍ يَصْقُلهُ

مِدْوَسُ شمسٍ في النّدى المميَّعِ

Like the berries of a garden burnished

By a tread of suns in the dripping dew,

كأنّ في فيها سلافَ قهوةٍ

صرفٍ بماءِ ظَلْمها مُشَعْشَعِ

As though in their mouths a draft of coffee

Pure, with the water of their darkness lucid.

إذا رضيعُ الكاس أصغى سَحَراً

إلى صفيرِ الطّائرِ المُرجِّعِ

When the suckling of the goblet listens at dawn

To the whistling of the bird leading back.

خُصَّتْ مِنَ الصوتِ بمعنى مؤيسٍ

من لغة الوصل ولفظٍ مُطْمِعِ

Specialized for them in voice with despondent meaning

From the language of union and words of hope.

وَمَهمَهٍ مُتَّصِلٍ بِمَهمَهٍ

مَرْتٍ بِموَّاجِ السراب مُتْرعِ

And drone succeeding drone

Passing with the mirage of the desert.

كَأَنَّ مَنشورَ المُلاءِ فَوقَهُ

متى تَمِلْ ذكاءُ عنها تُرْفَعِ

As though the projection of the firmament above it

When will cleverness ever cease regarding it?

كأنّما جُنْدُبهُ مُرَجِّعٌ

نغمةَ شادٍ ذي لحون مُسْمعِ

As though its hoopoe were a returning

Melody of a lover with melodies heard.

يذيب صمَّ الصخر حرٌّ لاذعٌ

يقبضُ فيه روحَ كلِّ زعزعِ

It melts the deafness of rock, scorching hot,

In which expires the spirit of all wavering.

لكلّ غارٍ فيه ماء وشَوَى

فيه أُوَارُ الشمس كلّ ضفدعِ

Every cave in it has water, and morning brightness,

In it the suns of every frog flash.

لا نار تُذْكَى في الدجى لسَفْرِهِ

إلا بريقُ مُقلَةِ السمعمعِ

No fire is kindled in the darkness of its journey

Save the glittering of the flint-steel.

تَعْسِلُ منه جانباه إنْ عَدا

مثلَ اضطِرابِ السمهَرِيِّ المشرَعِ

Its sides flow with honey if it passes by

Like the confusion of Sammah seeking diversion.

يَقْفُو رَذايا جُنَّحاً في السير لا

تُوضَعُ عَنهُنَّ سِياطُ المُزْمعِ

It overtakes gazelles galloping in travel with wings that

Cannot be lowered from them, the driven.

يَصُكّ مِنها دأياتٍ دُمِلَت

فهيَ بِشمّ الأَنفِ فيها تَرتَعي

From them pound fugitives made breathless.

So with the scent in them they pasture.

وذاتِ أَخفافٍ سَرَت أَربُعها

مُنتَعِلاتٍ بِالرياحِ الأربعِ

And a smooth one traveled, her four footsteps

Walking delicately with the four winds.

كَأنَّها وللنجاةِ ما نَجَت

منهوشةٌ بين أفاعٍ لُسَّعِ

As though having escaped to safety she

Had eluded being torn by sharp teeth.

تُحْدَى بسحرِ ساهرٍ في نِغْضَةٍ

شهمِ الجنَانِ لَوذَعِيٍّ أَلمَعي

She challenges with magic ever wakeful in the wrath

Of the crazed heavens, a piercing flame of mine.

والشهبُ كالشهبِ لسبْقٍ أُرسلتْ

لمغربٍ فيه أفُولُ المطلَعِ

And the meteors like meteors unleashed for a race

To a horizon where rises my rising light.

كَأَنَّها واضِعةٌ خُدُودَها

لهجعةٍ فيه وإن لم تَهْجَعِ

As though setting her cheeks down

For a slumber wherein she does not sleep.