لَعَمرُكَ ما قَلبي إِلى أَهلِهِ بِحُر

وَلا مُقصِرٍ يَوماً فَيَأتِيَني بِقُر

By your life! My heart is not inclined towards its folk with love

Nor is there one who comes to me with a poem day after day

أَلا إِنَّما الدَهرُ لَيالٍ وَأَعصُرِ

وَلَيسَ عَلى شَيءٍ قَويمٍ بِمُستَمِر

Indeed! Life is but nights and days

And nothing continues steadily in one state

لَيالٍ بِذاتِ الطَلحِ عِندَ مُحَجَّرِ

أَحَبُّ إِلَينا مِن لَيالٍ عَلى أُقَر

Nights at Dhat al-Talh near Muhajjar

Are dearer to us than nights in an abode

أُغادي الصَبوحَ عِندَ هِرٍّ وَفَرتَنى

وَليداً وَهَل أَفنى شَبابِيَ غَيرُ هِر

I spend the mornings near Hirr, and youth has passed me by

Did any other than Hirr cause my youth to disappear?

إِذا ذُقتُ فاهاً قُلتُ طَعمُ مُدامَةٍ

مُعَتَّقَةٍ مِمّا تَجيءُ بِهِ التُجُر

When I taste her mouth I say: “The taste of wine

Aged from what the merchant brings from Tujjar”

هُما نَعجَتانِ مِن نِعاجِ تِبالَةِ

لَدى جُؤذَرَينِ أَو كَبَعضِ دُمى هَكِر

They are two she-camels from the camels of Tibalah

Near two leather water bags or like some docile wild cows

إِذا قامَتا تَضَوَّعَ المِسكُ مِنهُما

نَسيمَ الصَبا جاءَت بِريحٍ مِنَ القُطُر

When they stand, musk diffuses from them

The morning breeze brought the scent of cassia

كَأَنَّ التُجارَ أُصعِدوا بِسَبيئَةٍ

مِنَ الخِصِّ حَتّى أَنزَلوها عَلى يَسَر

As if the merchants unloaded in Saba’

Some unripe dates until they brought them to Yasar

فَلَمّا اِستَطابوا صُبَّ في الصَحنِ نِصفُهُ

وَشُجَّت بِماءٍ غَيرِ طَرقٍ وَلا كَدِر

So when they ripened, half was poured into a bowl

And strained with water without sediment or turbidity

بِماءِ سَحابٍ زَلَّ عَن مُتنِ صَخرَةٍ

إِلى بَطنِ أُخرى طَيِّبٍ ماؤُها خُصَر

With water from a cloud that dripped from the side of a boulder

Into the belly of another, pure and clear its water, unsullied

لَعَمرُكَ ما إِن ضَرَّني وَسطَ حِميَرٍ

وَأَقوالِها إِلّا المَخيلَةُ وَالسُكُر

By your life! Being among asses does not hurt me

Except for delusions and drunkenness

وَغَيرُ الشَقاءِ المُستَبينِ فَلَيتَني

أَجَرَّ لِساني يَومَ ذَلِكُمُ مُجِر

And apart from evident wretchedness, would that

My tongue had refrained that day from calumny

لَعَمرُكَ ما سَعدٌ بِخُلَّةِ آثِمٍ

وَلا نَأنَإٍ يَومَ الحِفاظِ وَلا حَصِر

By your life! No happiness to the miserly transgressor

Nor safety on the day of reckoning and loss

لَعَمري لَقَومٌ قَد نَرى أَمسَ فيهِمُ

مَرابِطَ لِلأَمهارِ وَالعَكَرِ الدَثِر

By my life! There are people whom we saw yesterday among them

A shelter for the noble and the heavily armed warriors

أَحَبُّ إِلَينا مِن أُناسٍ بِقِنَّةٍ

يَروحُ عَلى آثارِ شائِهِمُ النَمِر

Dearer to us than people with spears

Who follow in the tracks of their wild beasts

يُفاكِهُنا سَعدٌ وَيَغدو لِجَمعِنا

بِمَثنى الزِقاقِ المُترَعاتِ وَبِالجَزُر

Sa’d entertains us, and comes early to our group

With pairs of gazelles and wild cows

لَعَمري لَسَعدٌ حَيثُ حَلَّت دِيارُهُ

أَحَبُّ إِلَينا مِنكَ فافَرَسٍ حَمِر

By my life! Sa’d, wherever his abode is established

Is dearer to us than you, O reddish-black horse

وَتَعرِفُ فيهِ مِن أَبيهِ شَمائِلاً

وَمِن خالِهِ أَو مِن يَزيدَ وَمِن حُجَر

And you recognize in him traits of his father

And of his uncle, and of Yazid and Hujr

سَماحَةَ ذا وَبِرَّ ذا وَوَفاءِ ذا

وَنائِلَ ذا إِذا صَحا وَإِذا سَكِر

The generosity of this one, and the righteousness of that one, and the loyalty of this one

And that one who attains his goal whether sober or drunk