1. أشاقكَ مِن غرامِكَ ما يشوقُ

    وهاجتكَ المرابعُ والبروقُ

    Has what awakens longing stirred you through your passion?

    And have the spring encampments and lightning flashes roused you?

  2. اِذا هدرتْ رواعدُها حَسِبْنا

    عِشارَ السحبِ يزجرُها الفنيقُ

    When their thunder roars, we imagine

    the clouds as pregnant she-camels driven by a prized camel-stallion.

  3. مرابعُ كم لبثتُ بهنَّ دهراً

    ولستُ مِنَ الصبابةِ أستفيقُ

    Spring encampments—how long I dwelt among them,

    and I do not recover from passionate yearning.

  4. وقفتُ على معالِمها ودمعي

    ووجدي ذا الحبيسُ وذا الطليقُ

    I stood by their traces; my tears

    and my passion—the latter captive, the former free.

  5. فلا وجدي يبوخُ له لهيبٌ

    ولا دمعي يشحُّ عليه موقُ

    So no flame of my passion dies down,

    nor does my eye's corner withhold my tears.

  6. أسائلُ مِن غرامي عن أُناسٍ

    ديارُهمُ اليمامةُ والعقيقُ

    Out of my passion, I ask after people

    whose homes are al-Yamamah and al-Aqiq.

  7. وأحمِلُ ما أُطيقُ فاِنْ تناءوا

    حملتُ مِنَ الهوى ما لا أُطيقُ

    And I bear what I can; but if they move far away,

    I bear of love what I cannot endure.

  8. ولي قلبٌ بنارٍ الشوقِ صالٍ

    وطرفٌ في مدامعِه غريقُ

    And I have a heart scorched by longing's fire,

    and an eye drowned in its tears.

  9. أضمُّ عليه اِشفاقاً يميني

    مِنَ الذكرى فينَفُضُها الخفوقُ

    I press my right hand over it, in dread

    of remembrance; its throbbing shakes my hand away.

  10. سبيلُ الحبِّ يسلُكُها فؤادي

    واِنْ أمسى بما جلبتْ يضيقُ

    My heart treads the path of love,

    even though it grows distressed by what that path has brought.

  11. اِذا ما قلتُقد نكَّبتُ عنه

    بدتْ لي في مجاهلِه طريقُ

    Whenever I say, 'I have turned away from it,'

    a path appears to me in its trackless wastes.

  12. تُتَيمِّنُي اللواحظُ فاتراتٍ

    وَيملِكُ صبوتي القدُّ الرشيقُ

    Languid glances enslave me with love,

    and a graceful figure rules my desire.

  13. وأفواهٌ يُمَجُّ اليَّ منها

    على ظَمَئي بها مسكٌ فتيقُ

    And mouths from which there flows toward me,

    as I thirst for them, musk with its fragrance released.

  14. فما يُدرى أخمرٌ بتُّ أُسقَى

    بها أم في مُجاجِتها رحيقُ

    So none can tell: was it wine I was given all night

    from them, or pure wine in their saliva?

  15. أحبتَّنا نسيتُمْ طيبَ عيشٍ

    على الجرعاءِ كان بكم يروقُ

    Our beloveds, you have forgotten the sweetness of a life

    on al-Jar'a, made lovely by your presence,

  16. وأياماً بكاظمةٍ حبانا

    بطيبِ زمانِها العيشُ الرقيقُ

    and days at Kazimah, when we were blessed

    with the sweetness of their season by a life of ease.

  17. أُريقُ بها دمَ الاِبريقِ صرفاً

    وغصنُ شبابنا غضُّ وريقُ

    There I would pour the ewer's blood, undiluted,

    while the branch of our youth was tender and leafy.

  18. مدامٌ في النديمِ لها غروبٌ

    وفي كفِّ المديرِ لها شروقُ

    Wine that sets within the drinking companion,

    and rises in the cupbearer's palm.

  19. يَلَذُّ بها الصَّبُوحُ وَيطَّبينا

    الى ساعاتِ نشوتِها الغَبُوقُ

    The morning draught is sweet with it, and we are lured

    into hours of its rapture by the evening draught.

  20. كأنَّ نوافحاً في الروضِ باتتْ

    يُضَوِّعُها لنا الخمرُ العتيقُ

    As though wafts of fragrance had spent the night in the garden,

    which aged wine spreads abroad for us.

  21. خليليَّ اتركا عَذَلي فقلبي

    به مِن نارِ أشواقي حريقُ

    My two friends, cease reproaching me, for my heart

    is ablaze with the fire of my longings.

  22. ودمعي في ديارِهمُ سفوحٌ

    على عَرَصاتِ أربعِها دفوقُ

    And my tears pour forth in their homes,

    gushing over the open grounds of their encampments.

  23. أأصبرُ بعدَما قد سارَ ليلاً

    أُهيلُ الحيِّ وارتحلَ الفريقُ

    Am I to be patient after they set out by night—

    the dear folk of the camp—and the company moved away,

  24. وأسمعُ منكما ما لا عدوُّ

    يفوه به الغَداةَ ولا صديقُ

    and hear from you both what neither foe

    nor friend would utter this morning?

  25. فما أنا ذلكَ الكَلِفُ المعنَّى

    بحبِّهمُ ولا الصبُّ المشوقُ

    Then I am not that ardent lover, tormented

    by love of them, nor a lovesick soul filled with longing.

  26. وما روضٌ سقاه المزنُ حتى

    غدا النُّوّارُ وهو به أنيقُ

    And no garden, watered by rain clouds until

    its blossoms grew lovely within it,

  27. تضرَّحَ فيه خدُّ الوردِ حتى

    تبرَّمَ في مُلائتهِ الشقيقُ

    where the rose's cheek blushed until

    the anemone grew vexed within its mantle,

  28. وفاحَ به عقيبَ القَطْرِ عرفٌ

    يهانُ لنشرهِ القُطُرُ السحيقُ

    and fragrance wafted there after the rain,

    beside which powdered aloeswood is put to shame,

  29. بأحسنَ أو باطيبَ مِن نظيمٍ

    بألبابِ الأنامِ له علوقُ

    is more beautiful or more fragrant than a poem

    that clings to the minds of humankind.

  30. اِذا أنشدتُه انفرجتْ قلوبٌ

    بها مِن شدَّةِ البُرَحاءِ ضيقُ

    When I recite it, hearts open up,

    constricted as they are by fierce anguish.

  31. نظيمٌ خاطري في كلَّ وقتٍ

    ببارعِ ما يُنظِّمُه خليقُ

    Verse—my imagination, at every moment,

    is capable of composing splendid verse.

  32. يسابقُ في المدى الأشعارَ حتى

    يَقفِنَ فلا تَخُبُّ ولا تسوقُ

    It races other poems along the course, until

    they halt, neither trotting nor pressing onward.

  33. وكيف تُنالُ غايتُه وفيه

    وما فيها

    And how can its goal be reached, when it possesses—

    and they do not—

  34. مِنَ السهمِ المروقُ

    the arrow's piercing flight?