سلام على رمل الحمى عدد الرمل

Peace be upon the dunes of Al-Hima, equal to the sand, and tell it: greetings from a lover like me.

I stood as the raincloud stands above its ruined camps, with pouring downpours and steady, drenching showers.

I lingered until the wild gazelle mistook me for a rotting stump, and the edge of the sanctuary shed tears on my behalf.

O my two companions, you have tortured me with your reproaches, as if no one had ever stood in these ruins before me.

And among the things that grieved me while the censors stood around was that my ear was deafened there to all censure.

Gazelles who walked the two broad riverbeds unadorned, though I used to see them adorned with necklaces and anklets.

They have exchanged names other than those I knew for them, so do not call upon them as Sa'da or Jamla.

They resembled one another in their dark eyes and long necks, but freeborn women are singled out for charm and coquetry.

With kohl-darkened eyelids and henna-stained feet, though they never knew what the color of henna or kohl looked like.

I remembered through them a woman whose sins I cannot forget, though she is far—and things are remembered by their likeness.

May tears water the camping-ground of the rain-cloud at Al-Hima—falling drops that spare its sides the need for heavy rain.

And my eye never ceased to act in place of the rain, with tears pouring down upon those water-sources.

The camping-grounds of women, youth, and early love, and the refuge of clients, kin, and family.

Nights when the sand-dune's meadow was never without dew, nor the trees of the two Al-Abraqain without shade.

Nor was the sandy waste of Al-Huzn ever empty of passion, but my own desires are now occupied with other things.

Nestlings whose nest stirred me and excited my grief, just as the forest lion is stirred by the wail of its cub.

How often have my riding-camels set forth in search of high glory, but when Sa'da wept, I unburdened my saddle for her.

I alighted upon the days as a guest and found no hospitality from them except the act of alighting without provisions.

My family has tested me by demanding I stay in humiliation, yet I am not worthy of the indignity my family has measured out for me.

The path to wealth is wide for every traveler, so why must I traverse it along the narrow trail of ants?

Does one deny the toil of camels, deserts, and darkness to a man whose resolve is my resolve and whose virtue is my virtue?

Let me urge my mounts forward with their smooth trotting pace, and fold up the darkness until I see its bright morning clear.

A tribe that has never missed a protector nor has the palm of any generous man ever lacked his bounties.

And a starter of generosity who, when you asked him and he gave, did not consider that act a notable expense.

A youth who has captured the monopoly of glory on every side, pleasing them and leaving the shoulders of gratitude weighed down.

With pardon unstrained by toil, purity without sediment, cash without a promise, and a promise without delay.

From the highest folk in the heat of battle, leaning forward with arrogance yet neither stumbling nor dismissed.

In it is a mighty night from the peak of a knightly lineage, if they trace their roots—not from 'Urayna or 'Ukal.

They are the tamers of the world and the politicians of its people when they boast—not the tamers of sheep and camels.

Their station towers above the seven high heavens, and their realm looms over the entire universal world.

When you rank the kings, you find them to be the essence while all the rest belong to the realm of mere action.

Generous in times of hardship and ease; their cooking pots never cease boiling in all conditions.

They never shut their doors against their guests, nor did they curse their servants at the hour of eating.

They never erected a barrier to keep petitioners away, nor told those seeking good that they were too busy.

Give joy to the son of 'Abbad with rhymes like fresh pearls strung from a necklace.

Excellence forbade me to care for any poetry after him, even if I recited the verse of Numar al-'Akli.

He said to him what Zuhayr said to the spring of generosity, and what Al-A'sha of Qays said to Hawdha al-Duhlhi.

Had it not been for your sweet reputation, I would not have been a poet, nor a reciter standing between the rows in a crowd.

Rather, I fulfill through him the right of a blessing that became proverbial for how deeply it marked my mind.

If you are not my helper and my refuge against a time that acts as an enemy toward me, then tell me: who is mine?

Is it fair that thirty poets are richly rewarded while a poet like me is denied even a comfortable livelihood?

Just as the letter waw is joined to 'Amr as an extra, and the alif of conjunction is squeezed out in 'Bismillah'.

Lend from behind me a single glance from your servants with the eye of nobility, and gather my scattered affairs by thanking it.

I have no hope in anyone besides you, nor is my poetry ever seen to pass by anyone else or taste sweet.

Is lightning ever sought except from rainclouds, and is honey ever harvested except from bees?

May the sons of this world protect you all from its sudden turns, just as the sword's scabbard protects the edge of the blade.