1. كم لا تزال تسائل الأطلالا

    يصل الغدو وقوفك الاصالا

    How long will you keep questioning the ruins?

    Your standing there links morning with evening.

  2. رحلوا وفي الأحداج غزلان النقا

    متكنسين أكلةً وحجالا

    They departed, with gazelles of the dunes in the howdahs,

    Taking canopies and bridal chambers as their lairs.

  3. من كل ذات لمى شهيٍّ باردٍ

    يروي الصوادي رائقاً سلسالا

    Each with sweet, cool, darkly tinged lips,

    Whose clear, smooth-flowing moisture slakes the thirsty.

  4. طرقت فنم الحلى في وسواسه

    بمزارها معطارة مكسالا

    She came by night; her jewelry's whispering betrayed

    Her visit—lavishly perfumed and languid as she was.

  5. وتضوع النادي بفائح طيبها

    نشراً فقال رقيبنا ما قالا

    And the meeting place filled with her wafting perfume,

    Its fragrance spreading; then our watcher said what he said.

  6. لما سرت وهنا وخافت كاشحاً

    جرت على آثارها أذيالا

    When she went out late at night, fearing an ill-wisher,

    She dragged her trailing skirts over her footprints.

  7. حسناء لو عرضت لأشمط راهبٍ

    هجر الأنيس وبت منه حبالا

    A beauty—if she appeared before a gray-haired monk

    Who had forsaken human company and severed its bonds,

  8. لصبا وفارق ديره وتغيرت

    أحواله لجمالها أحوالا

    He would fall in love and leave his monastery, and

    His state would change for years because of her beauty.

  9. علقتها من قبل طرح تمائمي

    عني وأقسم حبها لا زالا

    I loved her before my amulets were removed

    From me, and my love for her swore never to depart.

  10. بتنا وأثواب العفاف تضمنا

    تشكو وأشكو في الهوى الأهوالا

    We spent the night enfolded in the robes of chastity,

    She lamenting, and I lamenting, the terrors of love.

  11. وجعلت أذكرها ليالي وصلنا

    وأقول لو رفعت بقولي بالا

    And I began reminding her of the nights of our union,

    And saying—if only she would heed my words—

  12. أنسيت موقفنا بجو سويقةٍ

    متفيئين به الغضا والضالا

    Have you forgotten our meeting in the valley of Suwayqah,

    The two of us taking shade beneath saxaul and wild lote trees,

  13. أيام لا أخشى من البيض الدمى

    لي الديون ولا أخاف مطالا

    In days when I feared nothing from the fair, doll-like beauties,

    When debts were owed to me, and I feared no delay in payment?