أزيز الغانيات حسبت تغني

عن الرشأ الأغن الغانيات

The beauties' humming—I thought they could suffice

In place of the nasal-voiced fawn, those beauties.

وأشهل كاسر الأجفان يرنو

كما ترنو إلى الصيد البزاة

And a gray-eyed one, lowering his eyelids, gazes

As falcons gaze upon their prey.

إذا خطرت عليه صباً بليل

بطي بروده أطرت قناة

When a moist east wind drifts over him,

Within his robes' folds it bends a spear-shaft.

ومنتصب كصدر الرمح لكن

كم انعطفت له بحشاً شباة

And one upright as a spear's forepart, yet

How many a point has bent for him within a heart!

وذي لحظ كحد السيف يمضي

وقد تنبو المواضي الرهفات

And one whose glance, like a sword's edge, cuts through,

Though keen, thin-edged swords may glance off.

تمثل لي بموكبه كميّاً

أضاءت فوق منكبه أضاة

He appeared to me amid his retinue, an armored warrior;

A pool gleamed above his shoulder.

رمى فأصابني غرضاً رجيما

وتخطي من بني ثعل رماة

He shot and struck me, a pelted target,

Yet archers of Banu Thuʿal miss.

تغنينا حداة الركب فيه

فتطربنا على النوق الحداة

The caravan's chanting drivers sing to us of him,

And so, upon the she-camels, the drivers enrapture us.

حواجبه حواجب واقيات

واعينه عيون راصدات

His brows are protective barriers,

And his eyes are watchful scouts.

وماعهدي ظباء كانسات

بها قنصت ليوث مخدرات

And never have I known gazelles hiding in thickets

By which lions sheltered in their lairs were hunted.

ففي فتك السرى نفر نعام

وفي سفك الدما نفر كماة

So in slaying nobles, they are a flock of ostriches,

And in shedding blood, a band of armored warriors.

أمجتمع المنى إن شئت شمل

لمجتمع لنا بمنىً شتات

O meeting-place of wishes, if you wish for reunion,

Our scattered company will surely gather at Mina.

يصافيك الوداد المحض قلبي

وقلبك لاتلين له صفاة

My heart offers you unalloyed love,

Yet your heart—no rock softens for it.