إِنّي لَتُعديني عَلى الهَمِّ جَسرَةٌ

إِنّي لَتُعديني عَلى الهَمِّ جَسرَةٌ

تَخُبُّ بِوَصّالٍ صَرومٍ وَتُعنِقُ

تَخُبُّ بِوَصّالٍ صَرومٍ وَتُعنِقُ

Indeed, a sturdy she-camel helps me overcome my cares.

My heart is lifted above cares

She trots bearing a tireless, resolute traveler, and strides briskly,

By a doe frequenting the sand-dunes and thickets,

عَلى لاحِبٍ مِثلِ المَجَرَّةِ خِلتَهُ

عَلى لاحِبٍ مِثلِ المَجَرَّةِ خِلتَهُ

إِذا ما عَلا نَشزاً مِنَ الأَرضِ مُهرَقُ

إِذا ما عَلا نَشزاً مِنَ الأَرضِ مُهرَقُ

Along a clear track like the Milky Way—I thought it,

Who rises startled, like a constellation,

Whenever it crested a rise of ground, a sheet of parchment.

From the ground, ready to bolt.

وَظَلَّ بِوَعساءِ الكَثيبِ كَأَنَّهُ

وَظَلَّ بِوَعساءِ الكَثيبِ كَأَنَّهُ

خِباءٌ عَلى صَقبَي بِوانٍ مُرَوَّقُ

خِباءٌ عَلى صَقبَي بِوانٍ مُرَوَّقُ

And it remained on the dune’s soft sands, as though it were

At afternoon, on the crest of a dune,

A canopied tent upon the two uprights of a tent-frame.

She is like a tent with lofty ridge-pole

تَحِنُّ إِلى مِثلِ الحَبابيرِ جُثَّمٍ

تَحِنُّ إِلى مِثلِ الحَبابيرِ جُثَّمٍ

لَدى مَنتِجٍ مِن قَيضِها المُتَفَلِّقِ

لَدى مَنتِجٍ مِن قَيضِها المُتَفَلِّقِ

She yearns for crouching young like bustard chicks,

Yearning for water in a mirage,

At a hatching-place, emerging from their splitting eggshells.

Where the sand glitters;

وَيَومَ تَلافَيتُ الصِبا أَن يَفوتَني

وَيَومَ تَلافَيتُ الصِبا أَن يَفوتَني

بِرَحبِ الفُروجِ ذي مَحالٍ مُوَثَّقِ

بِرَحبِ الفُروجِ ذي مَحالٍ مُوَثَّقِ

And one day I reclaimed youth before it could elude me,

And when I met the sirocco, about to hinder me

On a wide-striding mount with a firmly knit backbone.

On a vast, open plain with firm-tied tents.