1. بربِّك أيّها البرقُ اليماني

    تكشّف لِي بلمعك عن أبانِ

    By your Lord, O Yemeni lightning,

    reveal Aban to me with your flash.

  2. فَقِدماً ما جَلَوْتَ عليّ وَهْناً

    شَماماً في صبيغةِ أُرْجُوانِ

    For long ago, late at night, you revealed to me

    Shamam in a crimson hue.

  3. وكدْتَ وما شعرتَ بذاك منِّي

    تَدُلُّ الطّالبين على مكاني

    And you nearly, though unaware of this about me,

    showed those searching for me where I was.

  4. أرِقتُ لضوءِ نارٍ منك تبدو

    وتخبو في السّماءِ بلا دُخانِ

    I lay sleepless at the light of a fire appearing from you,

    and fading in the sky without smoke.

  5. كما لَوَّحْتَ في ظلماءِ ليلٍ

    إلى الأبطال في العَضْبِ اليمانِي

    As you flashed in the darkness of night,

    in the keen Yemeni blade before the warriors.

  6. أراك إذا لمعتَ وعن قليلٍ

    تغيب فلا أراك ولا تراني

    I see you when you flash, and before long

    you vanish: I do not see you, nor do you see me.

  7. وأرقُبُ منك خدّاعاً لِحسّي

    مَروقاً بالتّقلُّبِ عن عِياني

    And I watch you, a deceiver of my senses,

    slipping beyond my sight through your shifting.

  8. كأنّك لا تقرّ على طريقٍ

    أخَذْتَ سَناك من عهد الغواني

    As though, never keeping to one course,

    you took your radiance from the promises of lovely women.

  9. وتخفق في نواحي الأُفْقِ حتّى

    كأنّك في الوغى قلبُ الجبانِ

    And you quiver along the horizon's reaches, so that

    you seem a coward's heart in battle.

  10. تَخبُّ إليَّ مِن بَلَدٍ بعيدٍ

    مَنيعٍ لا تَعَلَّقُه الأماني

    You trot toward me from a far-off land,

    unassailable, beyond the reach of hopes.

  11. وتُذْكِرني وبالكُ غيرُ بالي

    ضلالاً ما تقدّم من زماني

    And you remind me—though your cares are not mine—

    in vain, of the bygone days of my life,

  12. وعيشاً كنتُ أجرِي فيه دهراً

    إلى اللّذّاتِ مُستَلَبَ العِنانِ

    and of a life in which, for ages, I raced

    toward pleasures, robbed of my reins.

  13. إذا خَطَرَتْ ملاحتُهُ بقلبي

    جرى شوقاً إلى رؤياه شاني

    When its loveliness crosses my heart,

    my tears flow in longing to behold it.

  14. إذِ البيضُ الحِسانُ إليَّ مِيلٌ

    وإذْ وَصْلُ الغواني في زماني

    When fair-skinned beauties inclined toward me,

    and when my days held union with lovely women,

  15. وَإذْ أُمسي وأُصبحُ كلَّ يومٍ

    على عُقَبِ الحوادثِ في أمانِ

    and when, each day, I reached evening and morning,

    safe amid the turns of fortune.

  16. زمانٌ كان لِي فيه صِحابٌ

    كرامٌ من بني عبد المُدانِ

    A time when I had companions,

    noble men of Banu Abd al-Mudan,

  17. مِنَ النَّفَرِ الّذين أبَوْا إبائي

    وقادوا في أزِمَّتِهمْ جِراني

    among the men who would not accept my refusal,

    and led my neck with their reins;

  18. ولفّوا شملهمْ بالشّمْلِ منّي

    وكنت مدا الزّمان بغير ثانِ

    and entwined their company with mine,

    though all my life I had been without anyone to sway me.

  19. ولولا أنّهمْ حِلْفُ الأعادي

    وقَوْني من عُداتي ما عَداني

    And had they not been allies of my foes,

    they would have shielded me from whatever my enemies inflicted on me.

  20. يَمَسُّهُمُ الأذى قبلي ويَعْنِي

    جميعَهمُ لعَمْرُك ما عَناني

    Harm would touch them before me, and they cared—

    all of them, by your life—about whatever concerned me.

  21. وتَلْقاهمْ يؤودُهُمُ اِحتياجي

    ولا يكفيهمُ لِي ما كفاني

    And you would find them burdened by my need,

    and, for my sake, what sufficed me did not suffice them.

  22. مَضَوْا لسبيلهم وبقيتُ فَرْداً

    أَعضّ على فراقهمُ بَناني

    They went their way, and I remained alone;

    I bite my fingertips at parting from them.