أثارت دموعا كنت لن تستبيتها

ديارٌ حَدَت عنك الحداة قطينهَا

They stirred tears you would never have summoned—

the dwellings whose people the camel-drivers drove away from you.

فلما رأيت الدور قفرا محيلة

توهمتُ آياتٍ لها لتبينها

So when I saw the dwellings deserted and barren,

I imagined their traces, trying to discern them.

فاجريت دمع العين والنفس بينها

تردد بعد الظاعنين حنينها

I let my eye's tears flow, while my soul among them

repeated its yearning after the travelers had gone.

فحق لنفس أن تجن وأنها

تقطِّع من بعد الحنين أنينَها

A soul had every right to go mad, and to

utter broken moans after its yearning.

دع المدمع المصطانَ يجرى بمقلتي

غدا دمعها دينا عليها ودينهَا

Let the tears held in reserve flow from my eye;

its tears have become both its debt and its habit.

ألم تر أن الدور أقوت وأنني

عهدت بها حَورَا وحُوراً يلينَها

Have you not seen that the dwellings stand empty, and that I

once knew there a dark-eyed beauty and dark-eyed women attending her?

عهدت بها حَورَا أَعارت غزالةٌ

لها وغزالٌ عينَها وجبينَها

I knew there a dark-eyed beauty; the sun lent

her, with a gazelle, her eyes and her brow;

ونَورُ الأقاحى الثغرَ والخمرُ ريقةً

وزف الغراب الفرعَ وألبانُ لِينَها

daisy blossoms lent her mouth, and wine her saliva;

raven down her hair, and the ban tree her suppleness.

وقد جرعتني بالنوى مضض الهوى

لتمنع من عذب الوصال معينهَا

And through separation she made me swallow love's anguish,

to withhold her wellspring of sweet union.

فلما بدا صرمى وغودِرتُ مولعا

بأظعانها حيرانَ نَفسٍ حَزِينَها

When my abandonment became plain, and I was left infatuated

with her departing caravan, bewildered and sorrowful of soul,

صرفتُ الهوى عنها إلى مَن فريضُه

إذَا أنشد الأشعار كان حسينها

I turned my love from her to one whose verse,

whenever he recites poems, is their finest.

له درر منثورة وجواهرٌ

لدى الفكر يبدى بالنظام ثمينَها

He has unstrung pearls and jewels

within his mind; he reveals their finest by stringing them into verse.

وإن رامه سِلقُ الضراغم بَرَّه

ويحمى من الأسد الضوارى عرينَها

And if a fierce lion challenges him, he outdoes it,

and guards their lair against ravening lions.

أيا ضيغمَ الهيجا وياعيلم الندى

خُلقتَ كريمَ النفس لست ضنينَها

O lion of battle, O ocean of generosity,

you were created noble of soul, not miserly with it.

وإني أريد اليوم عندك حاجةً

لأنك تعطى الحاجة السائلينها

And today I seek a favor from you,

for you grant requests to those who ask for them.

وهِىَّ اجتناب لاشيخ أحمدَ بالهجَا

ومعذرةً لابُدَّ أن تستبينها

It is to refrain from satirizing Sheikh Ahmad,

and an excuse you must clearly understand.

وقد هيج البغضاء بعد مودة

هِجَاهُ وكان الناسُ مُجتنبينَها

And hatred was stirred, after affection,

by his satire, though people had shunned that hatred.

وإن هيج الهيجاء فاعلم بِأنها

تجرِّع ذَا صَفواً وذلك طينها

And if he stirs up conflict, know that it

makes one drink clear water, and another its mud.

وما كان هذا النصح غلا محبةً

وخالصَ وِدٍّ حين خَانَ الدَّينَها

This counsel was nothing but affection

and pure goodwill, when he betrayed its debt (wording unclear).

ونفسِى لما ترجوهُ عندك أيقنت

فحقق لها دون الخلاف يقينها

And my soul is certain of what it hopes for from you;

so make its certainty come true, without contradicting it.

لقد دست السعودَ ولا صعودَا

يفوق صعودَ مَن داس السعودا

You have indeed trodden upon the auspicious stars; no ascent

surpasses the ascent of one who treads those stars.

وقد عمت مواهبُك البرايا

وفي تِلك المواهبَ لَن تَعُودَا

And your gifts have embraced all creatures,

and you will never take those gifts back.

شَدت ورق الحمامِ لدى اهتمامِى

فكدتُ لسدوها ألقى حِمَامِى

The gray doves sang amid my distress,

and at their song I nearly met my death.

شدت ورق الحمام فهجن مالا

يهيج قبلها شدوُ الحَمَامِ

The gray doves sang, and stirred what no

dove-song had stirred before them.

سمعت حمامةً تدعو هديلاً

تذكر بالمعاهد والخيام

I heard a dove uttering its coo,

reminding me of the old haunts and tents.

فتهتافُ الحمائم هاج هَمّى

وشوقى للمعاهد والخيام

The doves' cries stirred my sorrow

and my longing for the old haunts and tents.

معاهدُ قدعهدت بها قَطَامِ

كلفتُ بهن من زمنِ الفطام

Haunts where I once knew Qatam,

which I have loved since the time of weaning.

فمن رام انفطامى عن هواها

فقد عُسُرُ انفطامى عن قَطَام

Whoever seeks to wean me from loving her

will find weaning me from Qatam hard indeed.

توهمت الرسومَ بها كخال

وشام في المعاصم أو وشام

I fancied the traces there like the dot

of a tattooer on wrists, or like a tattoo.

وكم غيث أَرَبَّ بِهنَّ عاما

راوعده تزمزم باهتزام

And many a rainstorm lingered over them for a year,

its thunderclaps rumbling with a crashing roar.

وكم هاجت رسوم دارساتٌ

هموما للمشوق المستهام

And how often faded traces stirred

sorrows in the longing, love-crazed one!

تحاورها السوارى والسوالى

وأسراب الأوابد والنعام

Night rains converse with them, and the unmindful (reading uncertain),

and herds of wild beasts and ostriches.

ومن نظر المحاسن من قطامِ

تخرق بالصبابة والغرام

And whoever gazes on Qatam's beauties

is torn apart by yearning and passion.

إذا كشفت نقاب الوجه كانت

بضوء البدر واضحةَ ابتسام

When she lifts the veil from her face, she shines

with the full moon's light, her smile radiant.

ترى في الثَّغرِ مِنها وَالمُحَيَّا

بَوارِقَ الابتِسامِ والتَّسامي

You see in her mouth and countenance

flashes of smiles and sublimity.

لَها ثغر يعلّ بصرخديٍّ

به تفتر عن حَبِّ الغمام

She has a mouth refreshed again with Sarkhadi wine;

with it she smiles, revealing hailstones.

تريك لدى التثني خُوط بَانٍ

وأرَدَافاً تَأبَّطُ بالهُيَامِ

As she sways, she shows you a slender ban-tree bough,

and hips you clasp in lovesick passion.