هبت صبيات المزارع بكرة

يخطرن بين السير والإسراء

At dawn, the farm girls sprang forth,

Stepping gracefully, between a walk and a hurry.

من كل عاصية النهود بها تقى

مطواعة الأعطاف ذات حياء

Each proud-breasted, with piety within her,

Supple-limbed and full of modesty.

نادى بها البشراء حي على الجنى

فغدت تلبي دعوة البشراء

The heralds called to them, “Come to the picking!”

And off they went, answering the heralds’ call.

والقطن موف ضاحك ببياضه

وصفائه من كدرة الغبراء

The cotton stood high, laughing in its whiteness,

Its purity free of the dusty earth’s murk.

يشققن مثل الستر من جنباته

ويخضن شبه البحر في الأثناء

They rent it from its sides as though it were a curtain,

And waded through a semblance of the sea in its midst.

متغنيات من أهازيج الصبا

ما شاء وحي هوى وطيب هواء

Singing songs of youth—

Whatever love’s inspiration and the sweet air willed.

ينشدن من وصف المخيلة جلوة

لعروس شعر زينة هيفاء

From imagination’s prompting they sang a bridal unveiling

For poetry’s bride, an ornament slender and fair:

حورية عيناء أبهى ما يرى

في الغيد من حورية عيناء

A wide-eyed houri—the loveliest ever seen

Among graceful maidens, of all wide-eyed houris.

وفر الإله لها العطاء فلم يعد

عن بابها عاف بغير عطاء

God made her giving plentiful, so never

Did a needy supplicant leave her door without a gift.

وبأمرها تعرى الحقول فتنثني

أم العراة بميرة وكساء

At her command the fields strip bare; then, in return,

The mother of the naked repays them with provisions and clothing.

تلك التي أكبرنها ونعتنها

بأحاسن الأوصاف والأسماء

She is the one they magnified and described

With the fairest attributes and names.

كانت عروس توهم فتحققت

بصفاتها وغدت من الأحياء

She was an imagined bride, then became real

In all her qualities, and became one of the living.

أعرفتها فلقد أكون بمسمع

منها أقول الشعر وهي إزائي

Have you recognized her? For I may well be within

Her hearing as I recite poetry, while she stands before me.