رَدَعَ الفُؤادَ تَذَكُّرُ الأَطرابِ

وَصَبا إِلَيكِ وَلاتَ حينَ تَصابي

Recalling past sorrows restrained my heart,

And passion for you flowed when we met.

إِن تَبذُلي لي نائِلاً يُشفى بِهِ

سَقَمُ الفُؤادِ فَقَد أَطَلتِ عَذابي

If you would grant me the cure I seek

It would relieve the sickness of my heart which you prolonged.

وَعَصَيتُ فيكِ أَقارِبي فَتَقَطَّعَت

بَيني وَبَينَهُمُ عُرى الأَسبابِ

Because of you I disobeyed my kin, severing

The ties between us.

وَتَرَكتِني لا بِالوِصالِ مُمَتَّعاً

مِنهُم وَلا أَسعَفتِني بِثَوابِ

You left me with no joy in union

And did not requite me.

فَقَعَدتُ كَالمُهريقِ فَضلَةَ مائِهِ

في حَرِّ هاجِرَةٍ لِلَمعِ سَرابِ

So I sat like a discarded water skin,

Its water wasted in the mirage of the plain pursued by one

يُشفي بِهِ مِنهُ الصَدى فَأَماتَهُ

طَلَبُ السَرابِ وَلاتَ حينَ طِلابِ

Seeking to heal his echoing voice, though the pursuit of mirages slew him, O beloved, when he sought water.

Suaida exclaimed while copious tears

قالَت سُعَيدَةُ وَالدُموعُ ذَوارِفٌ

مِنها عَلى الخَدَّينِ وَالجِلبابِ

Streamed down her cheeks and robe:

“Would that the Mughayri I did not allow

لَيتَ المُغيرِيَّ الَّذي لَم أَجزِهِ

فيما أَطالَ تَصَيُّدي وَطِلابي

All he sought in courting me had restored our past days

When we were blamed for neither love nor passion!”

كانَت تَرُدُّ لَنا المُنى أَيّامَنا

إِذ لا نُلامُ عَلى هَوىً وَتَصابي

When told what she had said, I spent the night as though

My heart were pierced by arrow points.

خُبِّرتُ ما قالَت فَبِتُّ كَأَنَّما

رُمِيَ الجَشا بِنَوافِذِ النُشّابِ

Is Suaida the water and pure air of the Euphrates

When I and she alike suffer thirst and lack of drink?

أَسُعَيدَ ما ماءُ الفُراتِ وَطيبُهُ

مِنّا عَلى ظَمَإٍ وَفَقدِ شَرابِ

There is none sweeter than you, though you are far away and women rarely

Guard the trust of an absent lover.

بِأَلَذَّ مِنكِ وَإِن نَأَيتُ وَقَلَّما

تَرعى النِساءُ أَمانَةَ الغُيّابِ