1. لَمَّا مضَى اليومُ حميداً فانجرَدْ

    ونشَرَ الَّليلُ جَناحاً فرَكَدْ

    When the day passed auspiciously and slipped away,

    And night spread a wing, then lay still,

  2. دَعَوْتُ فِتيانَ الطِّرادِ والطَّرد

    ومارِدُ الخُضرِ على الصَّيْدِ مرَدْ

    I summoned the young men of pursuit and chase,

    While the fierce one among the dark-hued raged against the game,

  3. يَكشِرُ عن مثلِ الحِرابِ أو أحدّ

    يُقصَدُ في آثاره حيثُ قَصَد

    Baring teeth like spears, or sharper;

    He is followed along his tracks wherever he goes.

  4. فاحتملوا زُهْرَ مصابيحَ تَقِدْ

    وكلَّ صَفراءَ من الصُّفْرِ تُعَدّ

    So they carried bright lamps ablaze,

    And every yellow vessel reckoned among the brassware,

  5. حنَّاتَهٍ في الَّليلِ من غيرِ كَمَد

    كأنَّ ماءَ البئرِ فيها يَطَّرِد

    Moaning in the night, though not from grief,

    As though well-water were coursing inside it.

  6. يَقرَعُ للصَّيدِ بِمَلْمومِ الجَسَد

    كأنه لولا اسْتِوَا الرأسِ وتَد

    He strikes it for the hunt with a compact-bodied beater,

    Like a peg, were it not for its flattened head.

  7. فتوقُه الوحشُ صحيحاً إن رَقَد

    حتى إذا عايَنَها السِّرْبُ صدَد

    The beasts [shun it], even if it lies intact and asleep,

    Until, when the herd beheld it straight ahead,

  8. مُجِدَّةٌ تُهدي له الحَيْنَ المُجِدّ

    بصَفحةِ البدرِ ورنَّاتِ الأسَد

    Eagerly bringing it the doom that hastens on,

    With the full moon's face and the ringing cries of a lion,

  9. فحُيِّرَتْ غِزلانُه فلم تَحِد

    وأقبلتْ تركضُ كالسِّرْبِ الفَرِد

    Its gazelles were bewildered and did not veer away,

    And came running like an isolated herd.

  10. ثم غَشِيناهنَّ أمّاً وولَد

    وشادناً يُعطي القِيادَ مَنْ وَجَد

    Then we fell upon them, mother and young,

    And a fawn yielding its reins to anyone it found,

  11. يُورِدُها حوضَ المَنايا فتَرِدْ

    فحينَ لاحَ الفجرُ مُنصاتَ العَمَد

    Who leads them to death's pool, and they come to drink.

    Then, when dawn appeared, its pillars breaking apart,

  12. وصارَ بحرُ اللَّيلِ ضَحضاحاً ثَمَد

    خِلْنا المُدى وَرْداً له الوَردُ سَجَد

    And night's sea became a shallow pool of scant water,

    We thought the knives roses before which roses bowed.

  13. وأَضحَتِ الأُهبُ شباريقَ قِدَد

    كأنها في الرَّوضِ نَظماً وبَدَد

    And the hides became shreds and strips,

    As though, in the meadow, arrayed and scattered,

  14. مُصَنْدَلاتُ القُمصِ تُغري وَتَقِدْ

    فنحن والضيِّفانُ في عَيشٍ رَغَد

    They were women in sandalwood-stained tunics, enticing and aflame.

    So we and the guests enjoy a life of plenty;

  15. نعُدُّ للزَّورِ كريماتِ العُدَد

    فمثلُنا بمثلِهِنَّ مُستَبِدّ

    We prepare the choicest provisions for visitors,

    For our like alone have mastery of such things.