1. صَحا القَلب عَن أمّ الخُنَيفِ وَلَم يَكُن

    لِيَصحُوَ إِلّا بَعدَ عَنيٍ مُماطِلِ

    The heart sobered from its love for Umm al-Khunayf, and would not

    have sobered except after long-drawn-out suffering.

  2. فَأَصبَحتُ مَصرُوفَ اللُبانَةِ وَالهَوى

    قَليلَ التَصابي مُستَريحَ العَواذِلِ

    So I was turned away from longing and passion,

    little given to youthful dalliance, with my reprovers at rest,

  3. سِوى عَبرَةٍ مَسفوحَةٍ كُلّما بَدَت

    لَهُ دِمنَةٌ أَو شاقَهُ بَينَ راحِلِ

    save for a tear shed whenever there appears

    to it a ruined campsite, or a traveler's departure stirs its longing.

  4. أَرُكبانَ أَنضاءِ السِفار أَلا قِفُوا

    رُسُومَ المَطايا في رُسومِ المَنازِلِ

    O riders of travel-worn camels, pray, halt

    the worn remnants of your mounts amid the remnants of the dwellings.

  5. نُسائِل مَتى عَهدُ الديارِ بِسَكنِها

    وَإِن كُنَّ خُرساً ما يُبِنَّ لِسائِلِ

    We ask when the dwellings last knew their inhabitants,

    though they are mute and reveal nothing to an inquirer.

  6. أَلا لَيتَ شِعري هَل تَعُودُ كَعَهدِنا

    لَيالٍ طَوَيناهُنّ طَيَّ المَراحِلِ

    Ah, would that I knew: will there return, as we once knew them,

    nights we folded away as one folds the stages of a journey?

  7. إِذا ذَكَرَتها النَفسُ كادَت مِن الأَسى

    تَسَرَّبُ في أَولى الدُمُوع الهَوامِلِ

    When the soul recalls them, grief nearly makes it

    flow away in the first of the streaming tears.

  8. وَإِنّي وَتَركي أُمَّ طَلحَةَ بَعدَما

    تَسَلسَلَ مِنّي حُبُّها في المَفاصِلِ

    And I, in forsaking Umm Talha after

    my love for her had coursed through my joints,

  9. لَظَمآنُ قَفرٍ أَبصَر الماءَ حَسرَةً

    وَقَد ذيدَ عَن أَطرافِهِ بِالمَناصِلِ

    am a thirsty man in a wasteland who saw water in anguish,

    having been driven from its edges by sword blades.

  10. وَلَولا رَجائي عَطفة الدَهرِ لَم أُبَل

    مَتى نَزَلَت بِالنَفسِ إِحدى النَوازِلِ

    And were it not for my hope of a kinder turn of time, I would not care

    when any calamity descended upon my soul.

  11. عَنِ النَوم سَل عَيناً بِهِ طالَ عَهدُها

    وَكانَ قَليلاً في لَيالٍ قَلائِلِ

    Ask about sleep an eye that has long been a stranger to it,

    and it was scant, on nights that were few.

  12. أَبيتُ بِمُستَأنى الخَيال وَدُونَهُ

    طُرُوقُ سُهادٍ وَاعتيادُ بَلابِلِ

    I spend the night awaiting the dream-phantom; between us stand

    night-visits of sleeplessness and recurring anxieties.

  13. إِذا ظَنّ وَكراً مُقلَتي طائرُ الكَرى

    رَأى هُدبَها فَاِرتاعَ خَوفَ الحَبائِلِ

    When the bird of slumber takes my eye for a nest,

    it sees the eye's lashes and takes fright, fearing snares.