1. يا روضةً صاغ لها

    حُلِيَّها الأشراطُ

    O meadow, for which were fashioned

    its jewels by the rain-stars!

  2. خيطتْ عليها حُللٌ

    ما خاطها خيَّاط

    Robes were sewn upon it

    that no tailor sewed.

  3. فبعضُها مَطارفٌ

    وبَعْصُها أَنماط

    So some were bordered cloaks,

    and some were patterned rugs.

  4. كأنما غُدرانُها

    من حولها رِياط

    As though its pools

    all around it were linen sheets.

  5. الوحشُ في أرجائها

    قبائلٌ أَخلاط

    The wild beasts in its reaches

    were tribes of mingled kinds.

  6. وافت كما وافت غدا

    ةَ عيدها الأنباط

    They came, as came on the morning

    of their feast the Nabataeans,

  7. أو كرجالِ فارسٍ

    ضمَّهمُ ساباط

    or like the men of Persia,

    whom Sābāṭ gathered together:

  8. قَناطرٌ من سَبَجٍ

    أَحكمه الخرَّاط

    arches of jet,

    perfected by the turner,

  9. ومتَّقٍ بمئبَرٍ

    كأنَّه خيَّاط

    and one shielding itself with a needle,

    as though it were a tailor.

  10. غادَيتُها ولم يُقِم

    أَعلامَهُ الغَطاط

    I visited it early, before

    dim dawn had raised its banners,

  11. بأكلبٍ لو لم تَطِر

    أَطارَها النَّشَاط

    with hounds that, were they not flying,

    eagerness would make them fly.

  12. في ساعةٍ لأدمُع ال

    حُزن بها انحِطاطُ

    At an hour when the tears of

    sorrow were falling there,

  13. تُمَدُّ طوراً سُجفَها

    وتارةً تُماط

    its curtains were sometimes drawn across,

    and sometimes drawn aside.

  14. فجئنَ والطلُّ على

    آذانها أَقراط

    Then they came, with dew upon

    their ears as earrings.

  15. قد نَحِفت أوساطُها

    فما لها أوساط

    Their waists had grown thin,

    so they had no waists at all.

  16. تضحك عن مثل المُدى

    فضحكها اختلاط

    They grinned, baring the likes of knives;

    their grinning was frenzy.

  17. حتى إذا انشقَّ لها

    من فجرها سراط

    Until, when there opened for them

    from their dawn a path,

  18. وكادت الشمسُ بأط

    رافِ الدُّجى تُناط

    and the sun was almost, at the edges

    of darkness, suspended,

  19. انبسطت كالشهب لا

    يُعجِزها انبساط

    they stretched out like meteors; no

    stretching could exhaust them.

  20. كأنما الأكفُّ في

    رؤوسها أمشاط

    As though the paws upon

    their heads were combs,

  21. كأنما تَقتتل ال

    أرجلُ والآباط

    as though battling were the

    legs and the armpits.

  22. فطفقتْ والوحشُ في

    مجالها بساط

    Then they set to work, with the wild beasts in

    their arena spread like a carpet.

  23. هذا لذا عقالٌ

    وذا لذا رباط

    This one was a fetter for that one,

    and that one a tether for that one.

  24. نِيطَتْ بها داهيةٌ

    مَسكنها النِّياط

    A calamity was fastened to them,

    its dwelling the heartstring.

  25. صرْعى تُشَقُّ قُمْصُها

    عَنْها ولا تُخاط

    Slain, their shirts were torn

    off them, and not sewn up.