ما شَجاكَ الغَداةَ مِن رَسمِ دارِ

دارِسِ الرَبعِ مِثلِ وَحيِ السِطارِ

What drew you here this morn to trace and write

Of a land whose dwellers perished overnight?

بَدَّلَ الرَبعُ بَعدَ نُعمٍ نَعاماً

وَظِباءً يَخِدنَ كَالأَمهارِ

The abode exchanged, after live's easy hours,

A dusty waste for verdant bowers.

عُجتُ فيهِ وَقُلتُ لِلرَكبِ عوجوا

فَثَنى الرَكبُ كُلَّ حَرفٍ خِيارِ

I halted there and to the company cried:

"Turn your beasts aside!" But every tribe

ثُمَّ قالوا اِربَعَن عَلَيكَ وَقَضِّ ال

يَومَ بَعضَ الهُمومِ وَالأَوطارِ

Replied: "Dispose your load this day some other way.

Not thus shall we relieve your disarray."

عَزَّ شَيءٌ أَن يَقضِيَ اليَومَ حاجاً

بِوُقوفٍ مِنّا عَلى الأَكوارِ

Nothing, I thought, would lighten the pack I bear

Save the good help of friends - but none was there.

إِن تَكُن دارُ آلِ نُعمٍ قِواءً

خالِياً جَوُّها مِنَ الأَجوارِ

If they who dwelt in that fair place we spied

Lived all securely, from alarms set free,

فَلَقِدماً رَأَيتُ فيها مَهاةً

في جِوارٍ أَوانِسٍ أَبكارِ

Then I have seen, amid their castle wide,

A maidens' bower, inmates fair as she.

ذَكَّرَتني الدِيارُ نُعماً وَأَترا

باً حِساناً نَواعِماً كَالصِوارِ

There, linked with loveliness from head to feet,

Proudly they trod, like graceful gazelles ye meet.

آنِساتٍ مِثلَ التَماثيلِ لِعساً

مَعَ خَودٍ خَريدَةٍ مِعطارِ

There I sojourned awhile, and spent the light

In converse glad, forgetting coming night.

وَمَقاماً قَد أَقَمتُهُ مَعَ نُعمٍ

وَحَديثاً مِثلَ الجَنى المُشتارِ

We shunned the eyes of censurers prowling nigh,

Hid by the screen of tent-walls raised on high;

نَتَّقي العَينَ تَحتَ عَينٍ سَجومٍ

وَبلُها في دُجى الدُجُنَّةِ ساري

With backs close mantled in our robes' thick down,

Between our wrists and shoulders wrapt and brown.

وَاِكتَنَنّا بُردَينِ مِن جَيِّدِ العَص

بِ مَعاً بَينَ مِطرَفٍ وَشِعارِ

I slept in ease, my pillowed cheek sustained

In night's dark hours by wrist and bracelet chained -

بِتُّ في نِعمَةٍ وَباتَ وِسادي

مِعصَما بَينَ دُملُجٍ وَسِوارِ

Till morning glimmered and the dawn's faint rays

Speared through its chinks like schoolboys at their plays.

ثُمَّ إِنَّ الصَباحَ لاحَ وَلاحَت

أَنجُمُ الصُبحِ مِثلَ جَزعِ العَذاري

Then we arose and walked in the cool air,

With scented herbs our fevered limbs to spare,

فَنَهَضنا نَمشي نُعَفّى مُروطاً

وَبُروداً وَهناً عَلى الآثارِ

While all around on hill and plain Its herds

The rising sun greeted, like angels' words.

وَتَوَلّى نَواعِمٌ خَفِراتٌ

يَتَهادَينَ كَالظِباءِ السَواري

With us there fared gazelles, gentle and young,

Hastening like maidens clad in garments long.

مُثقَلاتٌ يُزجينَ بَدرَ سُعودٍ

وَهيَ في الصُبحِ مِثلُ شَمسِ النَهارِ

With breasts adorned they paced sedately by,

Their horns the rising day-star's brilliancy.