ومن سُفُنِ القَفْرِ سَبّاحةٌ

منَ الآلِ بَحْراً إذا ما اعْتَرَضْ

Among the ships of the wasteland is a swimmer,

for whom the mirage becomes a sea whenever it appears.

لها شِرّةٌ لا تُبالي بها

أطالَ لها سبْسَبٌ أم عَرُض

Hers is a headlong vigor, and she cares not

whether a desert plain stretches long before her or broad.

إذا خفَقَ البَرْدُ بي خِلْتَني

عَلى كورها طائِراً يَنتَفِضْ

When the cold sets me shivering, you would think me,

upon her camel-saddle, a bird quivering.

وإنْ يَعْرِضِ البعضُ من سيرها

تَرَ العِيسَ من خلفها تَنقَرِض

If but a little of her pace reveals itself,

you see the pale camels behind her disappear.

فلو عُوِّضَ المرءُ منها الصِّبا

لما رَضِيَتْ نَفْسهُ بالعِوض

Even if a man were offered youth in exchange for her,

his soul would never be satisfied with the recompense.

هيَ القوسُ إنّي لَسَهْمٌ لها

أُصيبُ بِكُلِّ فَلاةٍ غَرَض

She is the bow, and I indeed am her arrow;

in every wasteland I strike a target.

إِذا انبَسَطتْ للسُّرى أيْأَسَتْ

سَنَا البرق منّيَ أو تَنْقَبِض

When she stretches out for night travel, she makes

the lightning’s flash despair of overtaking me; so too when she gathers herself in.

وَعَذْبُ الدموعِ دليلٌ على

بُكاءِ تبَسُّمِ بَرْقٍ وَمَض

And sweet-flowing tears are proof of

the weeping of a smiling lightning-flash.

كأنّي من البُعْدِ إذْ شِمْتُهُ

جَسَستُ بِعِرقِيَ عِرقْاً نَبَض

As though, when I watched it from afar,

with my own vein I felt another vein pulse.

تَرَفّعَ نَحوَ رُبوعِ الحمى

وحلَّ عَزَالِيَهُ وانخَفَض

It rose toward the dwellings of the protected territory,

unloosed its water-spouts, and came down.

وجادَ على الّترْبِ من صَوْبِهِ

بِرِيِّ الصدى وشِفاءِ المَرَض

From its downpour, it lavished upon the earth

the quenching of thirst and the healing of sickness.