أيا حادي الظعائن أين راموا

أقصدهمُ عراق أم شآم

O driver of the women's caravan, where did they mean to go?

Is their destination Iraq or al-Sham?

إذا عرضت خيام الخيف خبّر

بما بالصب قد فعل الغرام

When the tents of al-Khayf appear, tell

What consuming love has done to the lovesick one.

وإن يوماً حللت ديار سلمى

فقل كلف به كلف السقام

And if one day you alight in Salma's dwellings,

Then say: a lovesick man with whom sickness is enamored.

تهيجه إذا لمعت بروق

وتشجيه إذا سجعت حمام

Lightning stirs him whenever it flashes,

And doves sadden him whenever they coo.

فللشوق اضطرام والتهاب

وللدمع انسكاب وانسجام

So longing blazes and burns,

And tears pour forth and stream.

يود لو أنه قد حل نجدا

فيشفى من مواردها الهيام

He wishes he had alighted in Najd,

So its watering places might cure his burning thirst.

أيا بانات بخد هل شميمٌ

فيحيينى على النأى انتسام

O ban trees of Bakhd, is there a fragrance

So breathing it in might revive me despite the distance?

تهب به الرياح على مشوق

يهيّمهُ بنفحته البشام

The winds waft it over a yearning lover,

Whom balsam drives mad with its fragrance.

نصيبي من نصيبين انتشاق

يُعَلّ بطيب نفحته الأوام

My share of Nisibin is a breath of fragrance;

Burning thirst is slaked by its sweet breath.

وعلويّ الرياح لها بقلبى

إذا هبّت روائحها التئام

And the upland winds have, within my heart,

Whenever their fragrant breezes blow, a bond.

تُذَكّرني أذمّةَ أهل ودى

فيشجيني التذكر والذمام

They remind me of the pledges of my loved ones,

So remembrance and those bonds grieve me.

ويثنيني لهبتها مرورٌ

كما تثنى مداومَها المدام

And their passing gust makes me sway,

As wine makes its habitual drinker sway.

تبوح صبابتي بخفيّ سرى

وهل لصبابةٍ عندي اكتتام

My yearning reveals my innermost secret,

And can any yearning in me remain concealed?

جنوني

فقد أيقنتُ أنى مستهام

My madness.

For I have become certain that I am mad with love.

فؤادي ما دهاك أجب ندائي

وخبر ما وراءك يا عصام

My heart, what has befallen you? Answer my call,

And tell what news you bring, O ʿIsam.