1. أَضحى فُؤادَكَ غَيرَ ذاتِ أَوانِ

    بَل لَم يَرُعكَ تَحَمُّلُ الجيرانِ

    Your heart has changed at an untimely hour.

    Yet the neighbors' departure did not alarm you.

  2. بانوا وَصَدَّعَ بَينَهُم شَعبَ النَوى

    عَجَباً كَذاكَ تَقَلُّبُ الأَزمانِ

    They departed, and separation's sundering shattered their bond.

    How strange—such is the changing of the times!

  3. أَخطا الرَبيعُ بِلادَهُم فَتَيَمَّنوا

    وَلِحُبِّهِم أَحبَبتُ كُلَّ يَمانِ

    Spring passed their lands by, so they headed for Yemen.

    And for love of them, I loved every Yemeni.

  4. اللَهُ يَرجِعُهُم وَكُلُّ مُجَلجِلٍ

    واهي العَزالي مُعلَمَ الأَوطانِ

    May God and every thunder-rumbling cloud bring them back—

    Its rain-spouts pouring freely, its haunts clearly marked.

  5. وَلَقَد أَبيتُ ضَجيعَ كُلِّ مُخَضَّبٍ

    رَخصِ الأَنامِلِ طَيِّبِ الأَردانِ

    Indeed, I would spend the night as bedfellow to every henna-dyed beauty,

    With tender fingertips and fragrant sleeves,

  6. عَبِقِ الثِيابِ مِنَ العَبيرِ مُبَتَّلٍ

    يَمشي يَميدُ كَمِشيَةِ النَشوانِ

    Her clothes scented with perfume, her figure well-proportioned.

    She walks, swaying with a drunkard's gait.

  7. دَعصٌ مِنَ الأَنقاءِ إِن هِيَ أَدبَرَت

    أَو أَقبَلَت فَكَصَعدَةِ المُرّانِ

    A rounded sandhill among the dunes when she turns away,

    Or, when she approaches, like a straight ash-wood spear-shaft.

  8. يَجري عَلَيها كُلَّما اِغتَسَلَت بِهِ

    فَضلُ الحَميمِ يَجولُ كَالمَرجانِ

    Over her flows, whenever she bathes in it,

    The excess warm water, rolling like coral beads.

  9. سَقِياً لِدارِهُمُ الَّتي كانوا بِها

    إِذ لا يَزالُ رَسولُهُم يَلقاني

    May rain bless their dwelling, where they once lived,

    When their messenger kept meeting me.

  10. وَلَقَد خَشيتُ بِأَن أَلُجَّ بِهَجرِكُم

    إِنَّ الحَبيبَ مُذَهِّلُ الإِنسانِ

    Indeed, I feared I might persist obstinately in forsaking you.

    Truly, the beloved bewilders a person.

  11. بَل جُنَّ قَلبُكَ أَن بَدَت لَكَ دارُها

    جَزَعاً وَكِدتَ تَبوحُ بِالكِتمانِ

    Rather, your heart went mad when her dwelling appeared to you,

    In anguish—and you almost revealed what you had concealed.