أما حدثوكَ بأخبارها

وقد نزلَ البينُ في دارِها

Though they told you tales of it

And separation has descended in its abode

ليالي امرؤِ القبسِ بينَ الخيامِ

يباهي السماء بأقمارِها

The nights of Ibn Qabis between the tents

Vying with the sky through its moons

فما لكَ تذكرُ تلكَ الديارْ

ومالكَ تبكي لتذكارِها

Why then do you recall those abodes

And why do you weep to remember them

وبينَ الضلوعِ قلوبٌ عفت

وضنَّ الغرامُ بآثارِها

In the ribs are chaste hearts

And passion has clung to their vestiges

قلوبٌ فزعنا بها للدموعِ

فما أطفأ الدمع من نارِها

Hearts we startled with them to tears

That the tears did not quench their fires

تهزُّ لها الغانياتُ القدودَ

إذا ما تناجت بأسرارها

The singing girls shake for them the tuneful lutes

When they whisper their secrets

ألا فرعى الله تلكَ القصور

وحلى السماءَ بأنوارها

May God tend those palaces

And adorn the sky with their lights

يبيتُ يحنُّ لها جارها

وإن لم تحنَّ إلى جارها

Its neighbor spends the night yearning for it

Though it did not yearn for its neighbor

قصورٌ تدلُّ بأيامها

دلال الرياضِ بآذارها

Palaces whose days reveal

The coquetry of gardens in their prime

إذا طلع الصبحُ حيتْ ذكاءُ

شموساً توارتْ بأستارها

When dawn rises, intelligence awakens

Suns obscured by their veils

تكادُ لرقةِ سكانها

تردُّ السلام لزوَّارِها

Due to the gentleness of their dwellers

They almost return greetings to their visitors

همُ علموها اجتذابَ القلوبِ

وشقَّ مرائرِ نظَّارها

They taught them to captivate hearts

And cleave the breasts of their gazers

وقد سامحتها خطوبُ الزمانِ

وضنتْ عليها بأكدارها

The vicissitudes of fate have pardoned them

And clad them in their burdens

ودارتْ بمعصمها كالسوار

رياضُ تسامتْ بأسوارها

Encircling their wrists like a bracelet

Are gardens perfected by their walls

تحاكي المجرةُ أنهارها

وتحكي النجومُ بأزهارها

Their rivers mimic the Milky Way

And their flowers narrate the stars

كساها الشتاءُ ثيابَ الربيعِ

وزرت عليها بأزرارها

Winter clothed them in spring robes

And buttoned them with its pearls

إذا اعتلَ فيها نسيمُ الصباح

ناحتْ بألسنِ أطيارها

When the morning breeze rises in them

Their birds chant with their tongues

وإن طلبَ الظلُّ فيها الهجيرَ

تأبتْ عليهِ بأشجارها

And if shade seeks refuge in them

Their trees refuse it hospitality

وإن حلَّ الندامى فيها رأوا

لياليها مثل أسحارها

And if boon companions settle in them

They see their nights like their dawns

ودبَّ النسيمُ لعيدانهم

فباتت تنوحُ بأوتارها

The breeze strokes for them the treetops

And they spend the night lamenting their strings

وأنستهمُ معبداً والغريضَ

وشدو القيانِ بأشعارها

And made them forget the temple and passion

And roused the singers with their poems

وأهل البضيعِ وذكرى حبيبٍ

وشد المطيِّ بأكوارها

And the people of separation and a beloved's memory

And spurred the riding-beasts with their reins

سقتها السماءُ بما تشتهي

وجادتْ عليها بأمطارها

The sky watered them with what they crave

And was generous to them with its rain