1. أعيدوا حديثَ الظاعنينَ على سمعي

    اِذا شئتمُ مِن دونِ أهلِ الورى نفعي

    Repeat to my ears the tale of those departing,

    if you wish to benefit me rather than anyone else in the world.

  2. واِلاّ فخلُّوني وما شاءَ هُ الهوى

    فما ضاقَ يوماً عن معاناتِه ذَرْعي

    Otherwise, leave me to whatever passion wills;

    for my endurance has never failed to bear it.

  3. وخلُّوا المطيَّ الهوجَ تبتدرُ الفلا

    فاِنْ ظمئتْ فيها المطايا فها دمعي

    And let the headlong riding camels race across the wastes;

    if the camels thirst there, here are my tears.

  4. مدامع قد أضحت على كل حادث

    موزعة حتى على العيس والربع

    Tears that have come to be, for every calamity,

    apportioned even to the pale camels and the campsite.

  5. واِنْ لمعَ البرقُ الحِجازيُّ شاقني

    تألقُّهُ ما بين خَبْتٍ إلى جَمْعِ

    And if the Hijazi lightning flashes, I am stirred to longing

    by its gleam between Khabt and Jamʿ.

  6. تألَّقَ خفّاقَ الوميضِ كانَّه

    فؤادي وقد سارَ الأحبَّةُ عن سَلْعِ

    It flashed with a fluttering gleam, as though it were

    my heart, when the loved ones had departed from Salʿ.

  7. فأجرى وأذكى جاحمَ الشوقِ لمعُه

    دموعي وما بين الجوانحِ مِن لَذْعِ

    Its flash fanned longing's fierce blaze and sent streaming

    my tears, stoking the searing pain between my ribs.

  8. فللّهِ ايماضُ البروقِ كأنَّها

    قواضبُ شيمتْ تحت ليلٍ مِنَ النقعِ

    How wondrous, by God, the lightning flashes, like

    keen blades drawn beneath a night of dust.

  9. ومشمّا شجاني في الظلامِ ابنُ دوحةٍ

    يُغَنَّي مِنَ الباناتِ شوقاً على فرعِ

    And among what [uncertain reading] grieved me in the dark was a great tree's child,

    singing longingly from the bān trees, on a branch.

  10. فهمتُ بتسجيعِ الحمامةِ سُحرةً

    وكلُّ أخي وجدٍ يَحِنُّ إلى السجعِ

    So I was enraptured by the dove's rhythmic cooing before dawn;

    and everyone possessed of longing yearns for cooing.

  11. وأحسستُ مِن ذاكَ التغرُّدِ في الحشا

    لذكرِ الحمى لَسْعاً أشدَّ مِن اللَّسعِ

    And from that birdsong I felt within my breast,

    at the memory of the protected pasture, a sting sharper than any sting.

  12. فمَنْ لي به والعيسُ في الآلِ ترتمي

    بنا نحوَهُ ما بين خفضٍ إلى رفعِ

    Who, then, will bring me to it, while the pale camels plunge through the mirage,

    bearing us toward it, from hollow to height?

  13. وتلكَ المطايا الخُوصُ في غَمَراتِه

    مِن الضُّمرِ كلٌّ في العَساقيلِ كالنَّسْعِ

    And those sunken-eyed riding camels, amid its surging depths,

    all lean, each amid the shimmering mirages like a girth-strap,

  14. تؤمُّ بنا ماءَ العُذَيبِ وأهلَهُ

    اِذا عاقَها الشوقُ المطاعُ عن الجِزعِ

    head with us for al-ʿUdhayb's water and its people,

    when the longing they obey keeps them from the valley bend.

  15. فيا حارِ هل عاينتَ ناراً على الحمى

    بدتْ لكَ وهناً أم رأيتَ سنا لمعِ

    O Ḥār, did you behold a fire on the protected pasture

    that appeared to you late at night, or did you see a flash's glow?

  16. وهل نفحتْ عن منحنى البانِ نفحةٌ

    ففزتَ بما فيها للمياءَ مَنْ رَدْعِ

    And did a fragrant breath waft from the bān trees' bend,

    so that you gained the trace of Lamyāʾ's perfume within it?

  17. فعينايَ في شُغْلٍ بفائضِ دمعِها

    وقد نَثَرَتْهُ مِن فُرادى ومِن شَفْعِ

    My two eyes are occupied with their overflowing tears,

    and have scattered them singly and in pairs.

  18. ومِن عجبٍ أنَّي اُريدُ عليهما

    معيناً ومَن بُعدي على العينِ والدمعِ

    And it is a wonder that I seek, against them both,

    a helper—and who will aid me against my eye and tears? [conjectural reading]

  19. ومَنْ ذا الذي مِن بعدِ جيرانِ حاجرٍ

    يحاولُ صدَّي أو يَعِنَّ له منعي

    And who is it, after the neighbors of Ḥājir have gone,

    who would try to turn me aside, or think of holding me back?

  20. وغيرُ عجيبٍ أن جَزِعتْ وقد سرتْ

    حمولُهمُ تأتمُّ نجداً ولا بِدْعِ

    Nor is it strange that I was distraught when they journeyed by night—

    their laden camels, bound for Najd—nor is it unprecedented.

  21. بلاداً بها جادَ الزمانُ بقربِهمْ

    عليَّ ولم يجنحْ إلى البُخْلِ والمَنْعِ

    A land where time lavished their nearness

    upon me, without inclining toward stinginess or withholding.

  22. لئن سارَ مَنْ أهوى وسارتْ برحلهِ

    مُضبَّرةُ المتنينِ مَوّارةُ الضَّبْعِ

    If the one I love departs, and with his saddle travels

    a stout-backed she-camel, swiftly swinging her forelegs,

  23. لارتحلنَّ العيسَ بُدْناً توامِكاً

    اِذا كان شملُ الوصلِ آلَ إلى صَدْعِ

    I shall surely saddle the pale camels, stout and high-humped,

    if the bond of union has come to rupture.

  24. وأتركُنها وهي التوامكُ سُهَّماً

    تروحُ على أينٍ وتغدو على ظَلْعِ

    And leave them—those high-humped camels—gaunt,

    traveling at evening weary, and at dawn limping,

  25. الى أن يعودَ الشملُ بعدَ انصداعِه

    وبعدَ فراقِ الظاعنينَ إلى جَمْعِ

    until the company returns, after its sundering

    and after parting from the travelers, to reunion.

  26. وأُنشِدُ أشعاراً براهنَّ فاغتدتْ

    كما أشتهيهِ جودةُ الفكرِ والطبعِ

    And I recite poems, fashioned until they became

    as I desire, through excellence of thought and native gift.

  27. قريضاً له في كلَّ عقلٍ خديعةٌ

    ومُعجِبُه ما كان ضرباً مِنَ الخضدْعِ

    Verse with a beguiling charm for every mind,

    and its marvel is no kind of falsehood.

  28. قلائدُ أشعارٍ أُنضَّدُ دُرَّها

    اِذا نضَّدَ الأقوامُ شِعراً مِنَ الوَدْعِ

    Necklaces of verse whose pearls I string,

    when others string verse of cowrie shells.

  29. نظيمٌ غدتْ ألفاظُه وهي نُصَّعٌ

    مُبرأةٌ مما يَشينُ مِنَ القَرْعِ

    A string of verse whose words, gleaming white, have become

    free of the jarring harshness that mars them.

  30. يقولُ رجالٌ يسمعونَ بديعَهُ

    لعمرُكَ ما في الطوقِ هذا ولا الوَسْعِ

    Men who hear its wondrous art say,

    By your life, this is beyond our power and capacity!

  31. لها في نفوسِ الناسِ وقعٌ إذا غدا

    قريضُ أناسٍ وهو مُسْتَضْعَفُ الوَقْعِ

    They leave a mark on people's souls, while

    others' verse is deemed feeble in its effect.