1. لمن طلل ثَوى فيهِ ال

    بلا فشجاك عافيهِ

    Whose are these ruins, where decay has dwelt,

    and whose effacement has saddened you?

  2. سفت في سوحِه مورُ الث

    ثَرى أيدي سوافيهِ

    Across their courts, swirling dust was scattered

    by the hands of their dust-bearing winds.

  3. وسحَّت دَمعَها هطلاً

    بمغناه سواريهِ

    And tears poured down in torrents

    from night-wandering clouds upon their dwelling.

  4. وَقفت بهِ على شرعِ ال

    هَوى وجداً أحيِّيهِ

    I stood there, obeying love's law,

    greeting the ruins in longing.

  5. وظلت بهِ أكفكفُ ما

    ءَ أجفاني وأذريهِ

    There I kept wiping back the tears

    of my eyelids, and scattering them.

  6. فَلَم أُبصر به بعد ال

    ملا إلّا أثافيهِ

    Once their people had gone, I saw there

    nothing but their hearthstones,

  7. وَأطحل هامداً في الرَّب

    عِ تذروه ذواريهِ

    and cold gray ash in the campsite,

    scattered by its sweeping winds.

  8. مقامٌ من حبيبٍ أق

    فرت منه مغانيهِ

    A beloved's dwelling—

    his haunts have become desolate without him.

  9. وحالت دونَ ملقاهُ ال

    فراسخُ من مواميهِ

    And the way to meeting him was barred

    by leagues of his trackless wastes.

  10. حبيبٌ طال في هجري

    وفي قطعي تماديهِ

    A beloved who long persists in forsaking me

    and in cutting me off.

  11. أعاربة من الآرا

    مِ أعينها جواريهِ

    Bedouin maidens with gazelles'

    eyes are his handmaidens.

  12. ألذُّ من المدامِ جَناً

    مقبّلة لجانبهِ

    Sweeter than wine is the fruit

    of a woman's kiss upon his side.

  13. غزالٌ إن رعى فقلو

    بنا أبداً مراعيهِ

    A gazelle—if he grazes,

    then our hearts are always his pastures.

  14. طلبتُ الوصل منه فصد

    دَ عَنّي في تجافيهِ

    I sought union with him, but he turned

    away from me in his estrangement.

  15. فيا طوبى لمَن يحظى

    برشفِ الظلم من فيهِ

    Blessed is whoever gains

    a sip of glistening moisture from his mouth!

  16. يُجافيني فأطلبهُ

    ويُبعدني فأدنيهِ

    He shuns me, so I seek him;

    he holds me far off, so I draw him near.

  17. أَقولُ للائمي قد لا

    مَني فيما أقاسيهِ

    I tell my reproacher, who has blamed me

    for what I endure:

  18. يجدِّد لي الهوى ويظن

    ن ذلك منه يبليهِ

    He renews my passion, yet thinks

    this act of his will wear it out.

  19. ويغنيني من الأشوا

    قِ ما هو ليس يغنيهِ

    And longing satisfies me

    with what does not satisfy him.

  20. رويدك في الملامِ فإن

    نَ سمعي ليس واعيهِ

    Be gentle in your reproach, for

    my hearing does not take it in.

  21. ودَع صبّاً عنان هوا

    ه ليس اللَّومُ يثنيهِ

    Leave a lovesick man whose passion's rein

    no reproach can turn aside.

  22. وَيا عجباً لعاذل مد

    نفٍ قَد ظلّ يلحيهِ

    How strange that a lovesick man's reproacher

    has kept on scolding him!

  23. وَليس إلى الرَشادِ ملا

    م لائمهِ بهاديهِ

    Toward sound judgment, no reproach

    from his censurer can guide him.

  24. يُفنّده وواديهِ

    هنالك غير واديهِ

    He calls him foolish, yet his valley

    there is not the lover's valley.

  25. وأوطف مسبلٌ وكفت

    بأدمعِها مآقيهِ

    And a thick-lashed cloud, pouring rain—

    its eye-corners dripped with tears.

  26. ملثّ يسمن الآما

    لَ ضاحكُه وباكيهِ

    Persistent, it fattens hopes

    with its smiles and its tears.

  27. إذا جرت الصبا في وج

    ههِ اِنهلَّت عزاليهِ

    When the east wind crosses its face,

    its spouts gush in torrents.

  28. يحاكي جود حمير في

    تتابعهِ لعافيهِ

    It mirrors Himyar's generosity

    in its ceaseless giving to his petitioners.

  29. مليك في سماءِ الفخ

    رِ ما أحدٌ يُساميهِ

    A king in the heavens of glory,

    whom no one can equal in height.

  30. فَما كعب بن مامة في

    سماحته يباريهِ

    Even Kaʿb ibn Māmah cannot

    rival him in generosity;

  31. ولا في حلبةِ العليا اِب

    ن ذي يزنٍ يحاذيهِ

    nor in the racecourse of high glory

    can Ibn Dhī Yazan keep pace with him.

  32. يقصِّر عنه في الدَّرجا

    تِ حارثةٌ وهانيهِ

    Below him in rank fall

    Hārithah and his Hāni.

  33. هزبر لم تكن غابا

    تهُ إلّا عواليهِ

    A lion whose only forests

    are his tall spears;

  34. وبدر هُدى وما هالا

    ته إلّا نواديهِ

    and a full moon of guidance, whose only halos

    are his assemblies.

  35. رَمى الأعدا ببحرٍ قد

    طما في البرِّ طاميهِ

    He struck his enemies with a sea

    whose surging flood overflowed the dry land.

  36. وَبحر يلتطمن بمح

    كمِ الماذي أواديهِ

    And a sea whose waves buffet one another

    in stoutly wrought coats of mail.

  37. وَترمي بالأسودِ أسو

    ده فيه مذاكيهِ

    And his lions are hurled against lions

    within it by his seasoned steeds.

  38. أَلا يا من أقرَّت بال

    فخارِ له أعاديهِ

    Behold, O you whose enemies acknowledge

    that glory is yours,

  39. وَمَن بالفضلِ منه أقر

    رَ حاضرُه وباديهِ

    and whose excellence is acknowledged

    by your townsfolk and desert dwellers,

  40. جرت لك باِكتسابِ الحم

    دِ عن قدر حواريهِ

    your devoted followers have raced to win you

    praise, as destiny decreed.

  41. وَدونك من فتىً قد ها

    مَ في وادي معانيهِ

    And take from a youth who has wandered lovestruck

    in the valley of his meanings

  42. قَريضاً محكماً كالدُّر

    رِ قد سَلُست قوافيهِ

    a well-wrought poem like pearls,

    whose rhymes flow smoothly.