1. وَآلِفَةٍ لِلخِدرِ ظاهِرَةِ التُّقَى

    لأُسرَتِها في عامِرٍ ما تَمَنَّتِ

    And a woman at home in her curtained chamber, plainly devout—

    Her family has, among Amir, all it wished for.

  2. تَحِلُّ بِنَجدٍ مَنزِلاً حَلَّتِ العُلا

    بِهِ فاِستَقَرَّتْ عِندَهُ وَاطمأَنَّتِ

    She dwells in Najd, in an abode; glory has alighted

    in it, then settled there and found repose.

  3. تَذَكَّرتُها وَالرَّكبُ مُغفٍ وَساهِرٌ

    وَهاجَ مَطاياهُم حَنيني فَحَنَّتِ

    I remembered her while some riders dozed and others kept vigil.

    And my yearning stirred their mounts, so they moaned with longing.

  4. وَهَبَّ صِحابي واجِمِينَ وَكُلُّهُم

    يَقولُ أَلا لِلَّهِ نَفسٌ تَعَنَّتِ

    And my companions rose, downcast, and every one of them

    says, ‘Ah, what a soul, by God, courting its own torment!

  5. إِذا حَدَرَ الصُّبحُ اللِّثامَ تَأَوَّهَتْ

    وَإِن نَشَرَ اللَّيلُ الجَناحَ أَرَنَّتِ

    When dawn lowers its veil, it sighs;

    and if night spreads its wing, it wails.

  6. وَلَسنا نَراها تَستَفيقُ مِنَ الهَوى

    لَها الخَيرُ ماذا أَضمَرَتْ وَأَجَنَّتِ

    Nor do we see it recover from love.

    May good be its lot! What has it harbored and concealed?

  7. تَهيمُ إِذا ريحُ الصَّبا نَسَمَتْ لَها

    بِنَجدٍ أَو الأَيكِيَّةُ الوُرقُ غَنَّتِ

    It wanders lovesick when the east wind breathes upon it

    in Najd, or the gray doves of the thicket sing.

  8. وَتَصبو إِلى لَيلى وَقَد شَطَّتِ النَّوَى

    وَمِن أَجلِها حَنَّتْ وَرَنَّتْ وَأَنَّتِ

    And it yearns for Layla, though the distance has grown vast;

    and for her sake it has yearned, wailed, and groaned.’

  9. مِنَ البِيضِ لا تَزدادُ إِلّا تَجَنِّياً

    عَلينا وَلَولا بُخلُها ما تَجَنَّتِ

    One of the fair women, she only increases her groundless accusations

    against us; but for her stinginess, she would not accuse us falsely.

  10. تَضِنُّ بِما نَبغي لِظَنٍّ تُسيئُهُ

    أَلا ساءَ ما ظَنَّت بِنا حينَ ضَنَّتِ

    She withholds what we seek because of an ill opinion she holds.

    Ah, what an ill opinion she held of us when she held back!