لشقائق النعمان من نعمان

حنَّت ركاب الابرق الحنان

For the anemones from Nuʿmān,

the camels of al-Abraq al-Ḥannān yearned.

يا روضة جاد الربيع ورودها

بالمرزمين السمح والتهتانِ

O meadow whose roses spring watered lavishly

with the two thunderclouds, bountiful and steadily raining.

فتق الغمام بوبله اكمامها

فتفتَّحت عن نرجس وسنانِ

The clouds burst its bud-sheaths open with their downpour,

and they unfolded to reveal drowsy narcissus.

بكرت على تلك الربى نجدية ال

أرواح نافحة بريا البان

Early over those hills came Najdi

breezes, wafting the fragrance of bān trees.

وتدلدلت سحراً بها غوريةٌ

رقصت بعرّاص الحيا هتان

And before dawn a breeze from the Ghawr swayed there,

dancing with a lightning-flashing cloud of steady rain.

متفنن بضروب تيه دلاله

متعطف كتعطف الافنان

Artful in the many proud airs of his coquetry,

swaying as the branches sway.

يجلو الظلام بوجهه فكأنما

قمر السماء ووجهه سيان

He dispels darkness with his face, as though

heaven’s moon and his face were alike.

يا هل تراه معارضي بعوارض

حلو الشمائل مرَّ في حلوان

Ah, do you see him crossing my path at ʿAwāriḍ,

sweet in manner, having passed through Ḥulwān?

مخضوب اطراف البنان بعندم

قد رحت منه اعضُّ طرف بنان

His fingertips stained with red ʿandam,

I have taken to biting my fingertip because of him.

كم مرقب عالي القنان علوته

فيه يهدُّ قوائم الحيوان

How many a high-peaked lookout I have climbed,

where beasts’ legs are shattered,

بشوازب مثل الوعول حوافز

او كالذئاب الطلس في النزوان

on lean steeds, pressing onward like ibexes,

or like dusky wolves in their leaps.

ما زلت اقطع فيه كل تنوفة

حتى وصلت عنانه بعناني

I kept crossing every trackless waste there,

until I joined his rein to mine.

ولرب اسؤر حلة لمغلس

عن جنب برقة مغرم اسوان

And many are the remnants of a camp for a predawn traveler,

beside Barqa, lovelorn and sorrowful,

متعسف في السير ينشد عن ربي

عسفان اين الركب من عسفان

traveling pathlessly, asking about the hills of

ʿUsfān: how far is the caravan from ʿUsfān?

هلا تريح العيس وهي سواهمٌ

برواق أَبلج من بني عدنان

Why not rest the pale camels, gaunt as they are,

under the canopy of a radiant son of ʿAdnān?

حيث الأماني البيض حالية الطلى

متطلعات اثر بيض اماني

Where white hopes, their throats adorned,

gaze expectantly after white hopes.

فلأثنينَّ على الزمان ولم اكن

من قبل ذا اثني على الازمان

So I shall surely praise Time, though I had never

before this praised the ages.

ولئن اساء فقد غفرت ذنوبه

لعظيم ما اسدى من الاحسان

And even if it has done wrong, I have forgiven its sins,

for the immense kindness it has bestowed.

فلقد جرى يوماً اغر محجلا

بهجاً ببرء فتى اغر هجان

For one day it ran, white-blazed and white-footed,

joyful at the recovery of a radiant youth of pure lineage.

يا ابن الغطارفة الاولى من هاشم

غر الوجوه لوامع التيجان

O son of those noble chiefs of Hāshim,

bright of face, with glittering crowns,

والموقدين النار حول بيوتهم

بالمندلي الرطب للحيران

and those who kindle fire around their homes

with moist Mandalī aloeswood for the bewildered traveler.

وبرغم انفي ان تبيت معانياً

في ليلك الحمَّى بقلب عاني

And much against my will, you spend the night suffering

fever in your night, with an afflicted heart.

لوددت اني قد وقيتك حرَّها

باضالعي وبقلبيَ الحران

I dearly wished I had shielded you from its heat,

with my ribs and my burning heart.

كيف ارتقت صعداً اليك فشارفت

اوج السما وهي الحضيض الداني

How did it rise upward to you, and approach

heaven’s zenith, though it is the lowly nadir?

أَلِفَت مصاحبة العلى فتشبثت

كتشبث الأرواح بالأبدان

It grew fond of the company of greatness, and clung

as souls cling to bodies,

حتى انتزعت مخرقا ابرادها

مستبدلاً عنها برود تهاني

until you wrenched it away, tearing its cloaks,

taking in their place cloaks of congratulation.

ولئن اقمت على اختداع رواجف

او عاقني عنك اعتداء زماني

And even if I stayed, deceived by alarming rumors,

or my Time’s aggression held me back from you,

فلقد همت وبعد عدت مراقبا

عدوا لخطوب ولات حين اماني

yet I was indeed love-struck, then returned, watchful—

a foe to calamities, when there was no time for hopes.