1. أَلا يا اِبنةَ الحيّينِ ما لي وما لَكِ

    وماذا الّذي يَنتابني من خيالِكِ

    Ah, daughter of the two clans, what is there between you and me?

    And what is this phantom of you that keeps visiting me?

  2. هجرتِ وأنتِ الهمُّ إذ نحن جيرةٌ

    وزرتِ وشَحْطٌ دارُنا من ديارِكِ

    You shunned me, though you were my consuming care, when we were neighbors,

    yet visited when our home lay far from your dwellings.

  3. فَما نَلتقي إلّا عَلى نشوةِ الكرى

    بكلّ خُدارِيٍّ من اللّيل حالِكِ

    We meet only in the intoxication of sleep,

    in every ink-black, pitch-dark stretch of night.

  4. يفرّق فيما بيننا وَضَحُ الضُّحى

    وتجمعنا زُهرُ النّجومِ الشّوابِكِ

    The brilliance of forenoon parts us,

    and the bright, interlacing stars unite us.

  5. وما كان هذا البذلُ منك سجيّةً

    ولا الوصلُ يوماً خلّةً من خِلالِكِ

    Such generosity was never in your nature,

    nor was union ever one of your traits.

  6. فَكيفَ اِلتَقينا وَالمسافَةُ بيننا

    وكيف خطرنا من بعيدٍ ببالِكِ

    How, then, did we meet, with the distance between us,

    and how, from afar, did we cross your mind?

  7. وقد كنتِ لمّا أوسعونا وشايةً

    بنا وبكمْ آيستِنا من وصالِكِ

    For you had, when they overwhelmed us with slander

    about us and you, made us despair of union with you.

  8. فلم يَبْقَ في أيْمانِنا بعدما وَهَتْ

    عقودُ التّصابي رُمَّةٌ من حبالِكِ

    Nothing remained in our right hands, after the loosening

    of youthful love’s knots—not even a frayed end of your cords.

  9. وليلة بتنا دون رَمْلةِ مُربِخٍ

    خطوتِ إلينا عانكاً بعد عانِكِ

    And on a night we spent this side of Murbikh’s dune,

    you crossed to us, one deep dune after another.

  10. وما كانَ من يستوطن الرَّملَ طامعاً

    وأنتِ على وادي القرى في مزارِكِ

    No dweller in the sands had hoped,

    while you were at Wadi al-Qura, for your visit.

  11. وَلَمّا اِمتَطيتِ الرّملَ كنتِ حقيقةً

    بغير الهدى لولا ضياءُ جمالِكِ

    And when you rode the sands, you were surely bound

    to lose your way, but for your beauty’s radiance.

  12. تزورين شُعثاً ماطَلُوا اللّيلَ كلَّه

    على أَعوَجيّاتٍ طِوالِ الحوارِكِ

    You visit disheveled men who have kept the whole night waiting,

    on A‘waj-bred mares, high at the withers.

  13. إذا خِفنَ في تِيهٍ من الأرضِ ضَلَّةً

    ولا ضوءَ أوْقَدْنَ الحصى بالسَّنابِكِ

    When they fear losing their way in a trackless waste,

    and there is no light, they kindle the pebbles with their hooves.

  14. سلامٌ عَلى الوادي الّذي بان أهلُهُ

    ضُحيّاً على أُدْمِ المطيِّ الرّواتِكِ

    Peace upon the valley whose people departed

    at midmorning on white, swiftly trotting riding camels.

  15. وفيهنّ ملآنٌ من الحسنِ مُفعَمٌ

    يفيءُ بعزمِ النّاسك المتماسِكِ

    Among them was one brimful, overflowing with beauty,

    who bends the resolve of the steadfast ascetic.

  16. يتاركني وصلاً وبذلاً ونائلاً

    وموضعُه في القلب ليس بتاركي

    He withholds from me union, generosity, and gifts,

    yet his place within my heart will not forsake me.

  17. إذا اِفْتَرَّ يوماً أو تبسّمَ مُغرِباً

    فعن لؤلؤٍ عذبٍ نقيّ المضاحِكِ

    If one day he parts his lips or smiles broadly,

    he reveals sweet pearls in an immaculate smile.

  18. أبَى الرَّشْفَ حتّى ليس يثنِي بطيبه

    بُعَيْدَ الكرى إلّا فروعَ المساوِكِ

    He refuses kisses, so that his sweet mouth bends

    nothing just after sleep but the tips of tooth-sticks.

  19. ولمّا تنادَوْا غفلةً برحيلهمْ

    فما شئتَ بين الحيّ من متهالكِ

    When they suddenly called to one another to depart,

    what a host of grief-stricken souls there were among the clan,

  20. ومِن مُعْوِلٍ يشكو الفراقَ وواجمٍ

    ومِن آخذٍ ما يبتغيه وتاركِ

    of wailers lamenting separation, and those silent with sorrow,

    of those taking what they sought, and those leaving it.

  21. مضوا بعد ما شاقوا القلوبَ ووكّلوا

    بأعيننا فيضَ الدّموع السّوافِكِ

    They departed, having stirred hearts to longing, and consigned

    our eyes to floods of streaming tears.

  22. عشيّةَ لاثوا الرَّيطَ فوق حدوجهمْ

    على مثلِ غزلان الصّريمِ الأواركِ

    That evening they draped fine cloth over their camel litters,

    over women like gazelles of the sand tract, browsing on arak.

  23. يُحدّثْنَ عن شَرْخ الصِّبا كلَّ من رأى

    تماماً لهنّ بالثّدِيِّ الفَوالِكِ

    They speak of youth’s first bloom to everyone who sees

    their fullness in their rounded breasts.

  24. ألا إنّ قوماً أخرجوكنّ قد بغوا

    وسدّوا إلى طُرْقِ الجميل مسالكي

    Ah, the people who took you women away have acted unjustly,

    and barred my passage to the ways of kindness.

  25. هُمُ منحونا بِشْرَهمْ ثمّ أسرجوا

    قلوباً لهمْ مملوءةً بالحسائكِ

    They offered us their smiles, then saddled

    hearts of theirs filled with thorns.

  26. ترى السِّلْمَ منهمْ بادياً في وجوههمْ

    وبين ضلوع القومِ كلُّ المعاركِ

    You see peace openly displayed upon their faces,

    while between their ribs lie all the battles.

  27. وما نقموا إلّا التّصامُمَ عنهمُ

    وصفحي لهمْ عن آفكٍ بعد آفكِ

    They resented only my turning a deaf ear to them,

    and my forgiving, for their sake, liar after liar.

  28. وإنِّيَ أُلقِي القولَ بالسّوءِ منهمُ

    بمَدْرَجِ أنفاسِ الرّياحِ السّواهكِ

    Indeed, I cast their malicious words

    into the path of the fierce winds’ breaths.

  29. وأسترُ منهمْ جانبَ الذّمِّ مُبقياً

    على خارقٍ منهمْ لذاك وهاتكِ

    And I conceal what is blameworthy in them, sparing

    those among them who tear and rend that covering.

  30. إِذا كنتُمُ آتاكم اللَّهُ رُشْدَكمْ

    تودّون ودّاً أنّنِي في الهوالكِ

    If you—may God grant you sound judgment—

    earnestly wish me among the doomed,

  31. فمنْ ذاكُمُ أعددتُمُ لذماركمْ

    إذا قمتُمُ في المأزقِ المتلاحكِ

    then whom have you readied to defend your honor,

    when you stand in the tightly crowded fray?

  32. ومَن ذا يُنيلُ الثّأْرَ عفواً أكفّكمْ

    وتُظفِركمْ أيّامُه بالممالكِ

    And who will put revenge effortlessly into your hands,

    and whose battle-days will win you kingdoms?

  33. ومَن قوله يومَ الخصومةِ فيكمُ

    يبرِّحُ بالخصمِ الألدِّ المماحِكِ

    And whose words, on the day of dispute on your behalf,

    will sorely afflict the stubborn, wrangling adversary?

  34. ومَن دافَعَ الأيّامَ عن مُهَجاتكمْ

    وهنَّ أخيذاتٌ لأيدي المهالكِ

    And who has defended your lives against time,

    when they were captives in the hands of ruin?

  35. رأيتُكمُ لا ترشحون لجاركمْ

    من الخير إلّا بالضّعافِ الرّكائكِ

    I have seen you let nothing trickle to your neighbor

    of good but the feeblest, paltriest scraps.

  36. يبيتُ خميصاً في القضيض وأنتُمُ

    كظيظون جثّامون فوق الأرائكِ

    He spends the night hungry on gravel, while you

    are glutted, sprawling upon couches.

  37. ويُصبحُ إمّا مالُهُ في مُلِمَّةٍ

    تنوبكُمُ أو شِلْوُهُ للمناهكِ

    And by morning, either his wealth goes to a calamity

    that strikes you, or his body to exhausting labors.

  38. وإنّ الّذي يَمرِيكمُ لعطائِهِ

    لمُستَمطِرٌ رِفْدَ الأكفّ المسائِكِ

    Whoever tries to milk you for a gift

    surely seeks a rain of bounty from tight-fisted hands.

  39. ألا هلْ أرى في أرضِ بابِلَ أَدْرُعاً

    تصول بأسيافٍ رِقاقٍ بواتِكِ

    Ah, shall I see in the land of Babylon coats of mail

    charging with slender, keen-cutting swords?

  40. وهلْ أرِدَنْ ماءَ الفراتِ قبيلةً

    بلا ظمأٍ مشلولةً بالنّيازكِ

    And shall I drive a tribe to the Euphrates’ water,

    without thirst, driven headlong by javelins?

  41. يعُجُّ القنا بالطّعنِ في ثغَراتها

    عجيجَ المطايا جُنَّحاً للمباركِ

    The lances roar with thrusts into the gaps in its ranks,

    like camels bellowing as they bend toward their kneeling grounds.

  42. وهلْ أنا في فجٍّ من الأرض خائفٌ

    أذودُ بأطراف القنا للصَّعالكِ

    And shall I be afraid in some mountain pass,

    defending poor wanderers with the points of lances?

  43. فمن لي على كسب المحامِدِ والعُلا

    ورغم الأعادي بالصّديق المشاركِ

    Who will grant me, for winning praise and high honor,

    and humbling enemies, a friend to share the endeavor?