1. مَرَابِعُهُمْ لِلوحشِ أَضْحتْ مَرَاتعَا

    فقفْ صابراً تُسعِدْ على الحزن جازِعا

    Their spring dwellings have become pastures for wild beasts.

    So stand patiently and comfort one distraught with grief.

  2. فمن مُبْلِغُ الغادينَ عنّا بأنّنا

    وَقَفْنَا وأَجْرَيْنا بِهِنَّ المدامِعا

    Who will tell those departing at dawn, on our behalf, that we

    stood there and let our tears flow at those dwellings?

  3. مَعالِمُ أَضحَتْ من دُماها عواطِلاً

    فقلْ في نفوسٍ قد هَجَرْنَ المطامعا

    Landmarks now bare of their statue-like beauties—

    speak, then, of souls that have abandoned hope.

  4. وَفَيْنا بميثاقِ العُهُود لربعها

    كأنّ عهودَ الرّبْع كانت شرائعا

    We kept the covenant of our pledges to her dwelling,

    as though the dwelling's pledges were sacred laws.

  5. فمن دمنةٍ تحت القطوب كمينةٍ

    بها وثلاثٌ راكدات سوافعا

    Here, a blackened trace lay hidden beneath the lowering clouds,

    and here three motionless, fire-blackened hearthstones;

  6. ومن خطِّ رمسٍ دارسٍ فكأنّما

    أمرّ البلى محواً عَلَيها الأَصابِعا

    and the outline of an effaced grave, as though

    decay had passed its fingers over it, erasing it.

  7. تَأوَّهَ منه شَيِّقُ الركبِ نائحاً

    فَطَرّبَ فيه مُلْغِطُ الطّيْرِ ساجعا

    The yearning man in the caravan sighed over it, lamenting,

    and the clamorous bird trilled there, cooing.

  8. ومازِلتُ أُجري الدمعَ من حُرَق الأسى

    وأدعو هوى الأحبابِ لو كان سامعا

    I kept letting tears flow from the burning pangs of grief,

    and called to love for the dear ones—if only it could hear.

  9. وأفحصُ عن آثارهم تُرْبَ أرضِهمْ

    كأنّيَ قد أودعتُ فيها ودائعاً

    I scraped the soil of their land, searching for their traces,

    as though I had left things there for safekeeping.

  10. كأنّ حصاةَ القلب كانت زجاجةً

    مقارعةً من لاعجِ الشوق صادعا

    As though my heart's pebble were a glass vessel,

    clashing with a shattering force of searing longing.

  11. أماتَ ربوعَ الدار فقدانُ أهلها

    فأبصرتُ منها الآهلاتِ بلاقعا

    The loss of its people killed the dwelling's quarters,

    and I saw its once-peopled places become desolate wastes.

  12. كأنّ حُداءَ العيس في السير نعيها

    وقد سُقِيَتْ سمّاً من البين ناقعا

    As though the chant driving the pale camels on their journey were its death-knell,

    when it had been made to drink separation's deadly poison.

  13. أدارَ البلى ولّى الصبا عنك لاهياً

    فَمَن لي بِأَن أَلقَى الصبا فيكَ راجِعا

    O dwelling of decay, youth has turned heedlessly away from you.

    Who can grant that I meet youth returning within you?

  14. أما ولبانٍ درّ لي أسحمٌ به

    ومن كان من أهلي بودّي مُرَاضِعا

    Ah, by the milk a dark raincloud yielded me,

    and by those of my kin who shared the milk of my affection,

  15. لقد دخلتْ بي منك في الحزنِ لوعةٌ

    حُرِمْتُ بها من ذِمّةِ الصبر راجعا

    a burning pang from you has indeed drawn me into grief;

    through it I returned bereft of patience's protection.

  16. أيا هذه إنّ العُلى لتهزّ بي

    حُساماً على صَرْفِ الحوادثِ قاطعا

    O you, glory surely brandishes me

    as a sword that cleaves the reversals of fate.

  17. ذَريني أكُنْ للعزم والليل والسرى

    وللحرب والبيداءِ والنَّجمِ سابِعا

    Leave me to be, with resolve, night and night-travel,

    and with war, the wilderness and the star, a seventh.