1. أَهاجَ لَكَ الشَوقَ القَديمَ خَبالَهُ

    مَنازِلُ بَينَ المُنتَضى فَالمَصانِعِ

    Has old longing’s madness been stirred in you

    by dwellings between al-Muntaḍā and al-Maṣāniʿ?

  2. عَفَت بَعدَ أَسرابِ الخَليطِ وَقَد تَرى

    بِها بَقَراً حوراً حِسانَ المَدامِعِ

    They have faded since the bands of companions left, though once you saw

    there dark-eyed wild cows, lovely of eye.

  3. يُرينَ الصِبا أَصحابَهُ في خِلابَةٍ

    وَيَأبَينَ أَن يَسقينَهُم بِالشَرائِعِ

    They beguilingly show youthful passion to its devotees,

    yet refuse to give them drink at the watering places.

  4. إِذا ما أَتاهُنَّ الحَبيبُ رَشَفنَهُ

    كَرَشفِ الهِجانِ الأُدمِ ماءَ الوَقائِعِ

    Whenever the beloved comes to them, they sip him,

    as pale, purebred camels sip the water of rock pools.

  5. يَكُنَّ أَحاديثَ الفُؤادِ نَهارَهُ

    وَيَطرُقنَ بِالأَهوالِ عِندَ المَضاجِعِ

    All day they are the heart’s musings,

    and visit the beds by night with terrors.

  6. إِلَيكَ اِبنُ عَبدِ اللَهِ حَمَّلتُ حاجَتي

    عَلى ضُمَّرِ الأَحقابِ خوصِ المَدامِعِ

    To you, son of ʿAbd Allāh, I have loaded my need

    on camels lean at the girths and narrow of eye:

  7. نَواعِجَ كُلِّفنَ الذَميلَ فَلَم تَزَل

    مُقَلَّصَةً أَنضاؤُها كَالشَراجِعِ

    swift she-camels made to trot, never ceasing

    to be tucked-up, their wasted frames like biers.

  8. تَرى الحادِيَ العَجلانَ يُرقِصُ خَلفَها

    وَهُنَّ كَحَفّانِ النَعامِ الخَواضِعِ

    You see the hurried camel-driver urging a trot behind them,

    while they resemble ostrich chicks with lowered heads.

  9. إِذا نَكَّبَت خَرقاً مِنَ الأَرضِ قابَلَت

    وَقَد زالَ عَنها رَأسَ آخِرَ تابِعِ

    Whenever they leave one open tract of land, they face—

    once it has fallen behind—the beginning of another in its wake.

  10. بَدَأنَ بِهِ خُدلَ العِظامِ فَأُدخِلَت

    عَلَيهِنَّ أَيّامُ العِتاقِ النَزائِعِ

    They began it stout-limbed; then there was brought

    upon them, by days of noble camels from afar,

  11. جَهيضَ فَلاةٍ أَعجَلَتهُ تَمامَهُ

    هَبوعُ الضُحى خَطّارَةٌ أُمُّ رابِعِ

    a foal aborted in the waste, hastened before its term

    by a neck-stretching morning strider, tail-flicking, mother of a fourth calf.

  12. تَظَلُّ عِتاقُ الطَيرِ تَنفي هَجينَها

    جُنوحاً عَلى جُثمانِ آخَرَ ناصِعِ

    The noble birds keep driving off their base-born kin,

    stooping over the carcass of another pure-white foal.

  13. وَما ساقَها مِن حاجَةٍ أَجحَفَت بِها

    إِلَيكَ وَما مِن قِلَّةٍ في مُجاشِعِ

    And no ruinous need had driven them

    to you, nor was there any scarcity among Mujāshiʿ.

  14. وَلَكِنَّها اِختارَت بِلادَكَ رَغبَةً

    عَلى ما سِواها مِن ثَنايا المَطالِعِ

    Rather, they chose your land out of desire

    over all other passes leading upward.