ولما رأين البينَ زُمَّت رِكابهُ

ولما رأين البينَ زُمَّت رِكابهُ

وأيقَنَّ منّا بانقطاعِ المطالب

وأيقَنَّ منّا بانقطاعِ المطالب

And when they saw parting, its riding camels already bridled,

When he saw the separation, he gathered his mounts

and knew that their hopes of us were at an end,

And despaired of our demands being fulfilled

طلبنَ على الركب المجدين عِلَّةً

طلبنَ على الركب المجدين عِلَّةً

فعُجنَ علينا من صدور الركائبِ

فعُجنَ علينا من صدور الركائبِ

they sought a pretext to delay the hastening caravan,

He sought pretexts for departure from the caravan of glory

so they turned toward us from the fronts of the riding camels.

So he masked his true feelings from our minds

فلما تلاقينا كتبنَ بأَعيُنٍ

فلما تلاقينا كتبنَ بأَعيُنٍ

لنا كتُباً أعجَمنَها بالحواجبش

لنا كتُباً أعجَمنَها بالحواجبش

And when we met, they wrote with their eyes

When we met, our eyes wrote

letters to us, dotting them with their eyebrows.

Letters we encoded with our eyebrows

فلما قرأناهُنَّ سِرّاً طوينَها

فلما قرأناهُنَّ سِرّاً طوينَها

حِذار الأعادي بازوِرار المناكبِ

حِذار الأعادي بازوِرار المناكبِ

And when we read them in secret, they folded them away,

When we read them secretly, we folded them

for fear of enemies, by turning their shoulders aside.

Guarding against enemies with deceptive gestures