ايقظان ام هب الفُؤاد لَطائِف
أَلَم فَحَيّا الركب وَالعَين نائِمَه
Awake—or did the heart stir at subtle pangs
of pain, then hail the caravan while the eye lay sleeping?
سَرى مِن بِلاد الغور حَتّى اهتَدى لَنا
وَنَحنُ قَريب من عَمود سَوادِمه
The caravan journeyed by night from the lands of al-Ghawr until it found its way to us,
while we were near the central column of their dark host
بِنَجد وَما كانَت بِعَهدي رَجيلَة
وَلا ذات فِكر في سَرى اللَيلِ فاطِمَه
in Najd; yet never, to my knowledge, had she been a traveler,
nor was Fatima one to contemplate journeys through the night.
وَوَاللَهُ ما مِن عادَة لَكَ في السَرى
سَرَيت وَلا اِن كُنت بِالاِرضِ عالمه
By God, it was never your custom to travel by night;
yet you journeyed, though you knew nothing of the land.
وَلكِنَّما مُثِّلَتِ لَيلاً لِذي الهَوى
فَبِتُّ عَلى خَير وَفارَقت سالمه
But it was only your Layla who appeared before the love-possessed;
so you passed the night in peace and departed safe.
فَيا لَكَ ذا ودّ وَيا لَكَ لَيلَة
تجلَّت وَكانَت بردَة العَيش ناعِمه
Ah, what devotion was yours—and ah, what a night!
It unveiled itself, and the mantle of life was soft.
فَلَو دُمت لَم أَملَل وَلكِن تَرَكتَني
بِدائي وَما الدُنيا لحيّ بِدائِمه
Had you endured, I would never have wearied; but you left me
with my malady—and this world endures for no living soul.
وَذكرتِنا أَيّامنا بِسويقةٍ
وَلَيلَتنا اِذ النَوى مُتَلائِمَه
You recalled to us our days at Suwayqa,
and our night when our purposes were in accord.
Sol 5.6