يَا بُؤسَ لِلقَلْبِ بَعْد اليَوْمِ ما آبَهْ

ذِكرَى حَبيبٍ ببعضِ الأرْضِ قد رَابهْ

Oh the sorrow of the heart after today, no longer caring

For the memory of a loved one in some corner of the earth distanced

قالّتْ سُلَيْمى أرَاكَ اليومَ مُكْتَئِباً

والرَّأْسُ بَعدي رَأيتُ الشّيْبَ قد عابه

Sulayma said, today I see you melancholic

And after me, I see the gray hair has marked you

وحَارَ بَعْدَ سَوَادِ الرَّأْسِ جُمَّتَهُ

كمِعْقَبِ الرَّيطِ إذْ نَشَّرْتَ هُدَّابهْ

And after the blackness of your hair confounded its neatness

As with its mane scattered, when you let down its braids

ومَرْقَبٍ تَسْكُنُ العِقْبانُ قُلَّتَهُ

أشْرَفْتُهُ مُسْفِراً والنَّفْسُ مُهْتَابَهْ

And a watchtower where ravens rest its fewness

I looked upon it bare while my soul recoiled

عَمْداً لأرْقُبَ مَا لِلجَوِّ مِنْ نَعَمٍ

فَناظِرٌ رائِحاً مِنْهُ وعُزَّابَهْ

Intent to watch what the weather grants of blessings

So a viewer going to it while its inhabitants left

وقدْ نَزَلْتُ إلى رَكْبٍ مُعَقَّلَةٍ

شُعْثِ الرُّووسِ كأنَّ فَوْقَهُمْ غابَهْ

And I descended to a caravan ragged

With disheveled hair as if above them a cloud

لَمَّا رَكِبْنا رَفَعناهُنَّ زَفْزَفَةً

حَتى احْتَوَيْنَا سَوَاماً ثمَّ أرْبَابَهْ

When we rode, we raised them with a whimper

Until we encompassed beasts, then their owners