هزك للشعر حنات وأشواق

وعاودتك حساسات وأذواق

Your love for poetry endowed passions and yearnings

Nostalgia and longings have stirred you toward verse,

And reawakened in you sensitivities and tastes

And delicate sentiments and tastes have visited you once more.

اليوم صدرك للأفراح منشرح

فما عليه من الأتراح أغلاق

Today your chest is open for joys

Today your heart is wide open to joys,

With no distress to close it

And no locks of sorrow bar its way.

أقم هنيئا فما في القلب موجدة

ونم قريرا فما بالعين إراق

Stay happy as there is nothing troubling the heart

Dwell happily, for the heart holds no grievance,

And sleep calmly as no tears wet the eyes

And sleep soundly, for the eye sheds no tears.

حيتك في البدو كل الكائنات به

الريح عازفة والروض صفاق

Nature celebrates your arrival in this abode

In the wild lands, every creature has greeted you;

The wind makes music and the meadow frolics

The wind plays its tune, and the garden claps along.

والحقل محتفل الأشجارمن طرب

تشدو وتهفو به ورق وأوراق

The farm dances joyously, the trees

The field is festive, its trees dancing with joy,

Sing and sway, leaves and branches

Where doves sing and leaves flutter in delight.

والنهر في جنبات السفح منبسط

والماء في جنبات النهررقراق

The river meanders down the valley's flank

The river spreads wide along the mountain slopes,

Water babbles over the river rocks

And the water shimmers gently between its banks.

وفي الكروم عناقيد تحف بها

كأنها في نحورالغيد أطواق

In the vineyards hang clusters, adorned

In the vineyards hang heavy clusters of grapes,

Like necklaces round the throats of maids

Like necklaces adorning the throats of fair maidens.

وفي المزارع قطعان منوعة

ضأن ومعز وأبقار وأنياق

In the fields, flocks of goats and sheep

In the pastures roam herds of various kinds:

Cows and camels, shepherds lead them singing

Sheep, goats, cattle, and she-camels.

تشدو الرعاة بسوق للغناء بها

وللغناء كما للشعر أسواق

For song, like poetry, has its markets

The shepherds sing while driving their flocks,

Their flutes trill loud tunes

For song, like poetry, has its own bustling markets.

لهم مزامير بالألحان صادحة

كأنها في صدى الوديان أبواق

Echoing through the valleys like horns

They possess flutes that ring out with melody,

The beasts prance freely in the woods

Resounding like trumpets through the valleys' echo.

والوحش سلوان في الغابات منطلق

والطير جذلان في الأوكار زقزاق

Birds chirp merrily in their nests

The wild beast roams content and free in the forests,

The sun beams each moment

And the bird chirps joyfully within its nest.

والشمس زاهرة في كل آونة

كأن إمساءها في العين إشراق

As if her rising etched rays on the eye

The sun is radiant at every passing moment;

The moon floats pious and devout at night

Even its setting appears to the eye like a sunrise.

والبدر في الليل يبدوا زاهدا ورعا

له إلى الله إخبات وإطراق

Whispering prayers and submission to God

The full moon at night appears like a pious ascetic,

Or a lovelorn watcher, awake and alone

Bowing his head in humble submission to God,

أو عاشقا ساهرا في الحي منفردا

وقد غفت من رعاة الحي أحداق

While shepherd eyes in the abode slumber

Or like a sleepless lover, solitary in the camp,

O wakeful witness of the night, sight has not failed you

While the eyes of the tribe's shepherds have drifted to sleep.

يا ساهر الليل لا خانتك باصرة

ولا عداك على الغافين إشفاق

Nor compassion for those sunk in negligence

O night watcher, may your vision never fail you,

Descend and join us a little while

Nor may you lack compassion for those who slumber.

إنزل إلينا قليلا نصحب زمنا

فكلنا لجمال البدو عشاق

For we all love the desert's beauty

Descend to us for a while, that we may be companions,

The hut looks nicer than the planets' spheres

For we are all lovers of the desert's beauty.

الكوخ أبهى من الأفلاك نيرة

والقصر يعلو طاق فوقه طاق

The palace with its tiered ceilings vain and false

The humble hut is more splendid than the shining spheres,

Tell those who crave for city comforts

Or the palace that towers, story upon story.

فقل لمن هو في نشدان راحته

إلى الحواضر بالجدان منساق

Dragged by yearning to the metropolis

So say to the one who seeks his own comfort,

Leave the cities, let not their glamour tempt you

Who is driven toward the cities by ambition:

دع الحواضر لا يغررك زخرفها

فجوها قاتم كالغاز خناق

Their air is gloomy as a choking trap

Leave the cities; be not deceived by their glitter,

Seek the wilderness, find joy in its expanse

For their air is gloomy, stifling and choking.

واغش البوادي تنعم في مرابعها

عيشا ويخطئك إعسار وإملاق

With carefree living, safe from want and toil

Seek the open lands and enjoy their pastures,

The nomad life is matchless in its riches

A life where hardship and poverty will pass you by.

عيش البوادي نضير لا نظير له

وجوها لعضال الداء ترياق

Its climate cure for all of illness' ills

Life in the wilds is verdant, with no equal;

The desert valleys are valleys like no other

Its air is a cure for the most stubborn of ills.

فما كأودية البادين أودية

ولا كآفاقهم في الأرض آفاق

Its horizons have no earthly parallel

For there are no valleys like those of the nomads,

Look- amid the huts, a table spreads

Nor any horizons on earth quite like theirs.

أنظر تجد خلل الأكواخ مائدة

تميد من فوقها بالرزق أطباق

Set with dishes filled with sustenance

Look, and you will find amidst the huts a banquet,

Laid out free for all humanity

Groaning under the weight of plates laden with bounty,

مبسوطة لبني الإنسان مطلقة

على يد كلها بسط وإطلاق

By a hand that is giving and releasing

Spread out for all mankind, offered without restraint,

My Lord, I thank you - gratitude is Your right

By a hand that is nothing but generous and free.

يا رب شكرك حق لست أجحده

فما سواك لهذا الخير خلاق

None but You can create such good

O Lord, gratitude to You is a duty I do not deny,

For none but You could create such bounty.