بَصُرْتُ بِرَكْبِ الحَيِّ لِلْحَيِّ سَائِراً

بَصُرْتُ بِرَكْبِ الحَيِّ لِلْحَيِّ سَائِراًفَقُلْتُ لَهُمْ مَا حَالُ ذَاتِ الغَدَائِرِ

Baṣurtu birakbi al-ḥayyi lilḥayyi sāʾiran, Faqultu lahum mā ḥālu dhāti al-ghadāʾiri

I saw the caravan of the encampment travelling to the encampment, and I said to them: "How is the one with the long tresses,

مُحَجَّبَةِ الحُسْنِ البَدِيعِ الَّذِي غَدَابِهَا كُلُّ صَبٍّ وَالِهَ القَلْبِ حَائِرِ

Muḥajjabati al-ḥusni al-badīʿi al-ladhī ghadā, Bihā kullu ṣabbin wāliha al-qalbi ḥāʾiri

Veiled in wondrous beauty, through whom every lover has become distraught and bewildered?

أَلَا فَاشْرَحُوا لِي حُسْنَهَا وَجَمَالَهَافَأَوْصَافُهَا تَحْلُو لِسَمْعِي وَخَاطِرِي

Alā fashraḥū lī ḥusnahā wajamālahā, Faʾawṣāfuhā taḥlū lisamʿī wakhāṭirī

Describe to me her beauty and loveliness, for her qualities are sweet to my ears and my mind."

فَقَالُوا تَرَى فِي ذِكْرِهَا بَعْضَ سَلْوَةٍلِعَاشِقِهَا دُونَ الشُّهُودِ بِنَاظِرِ

Faqālū tarā fī dhikrihā baʿḍa salwatin, Liʿāshiqihā dūna ash-shuhūdi bināẓiri

They said: "You find in mentioning her some consolation for her lover, short of seeing her with the eye.

هَلُمَّ نَجِدُّ السَّيْرَ نَحْوَ خِبَائِهَالِنَحْظَى بِهَا مَا بَيْنَ تِلْكَ المَشَاعِرِ

Halumma najiddu as-sayra naḥwa khibāʾihā, Linaḥẓā bihā mā bayna tilka al-mashāʿiri

Come, let us hasten our journey toward her tent, that we may win her among those sacred sites."

فَقُلْتُ لَهُمْ فِي ذِكْرِ أَوْصَافِ حُسْنِهَاتَيَقُّظُ مَحْجُوبٍ وَتَنْشِيطُ سَائِرِ

Faqultu lahum fī dhikri awṣāfi ḥusnihā, Tayaqquẓu maḥjūbin watanshīṭu sāʾiri

I said to them: "In mentioning the qualities of her beauty is the awakening of the veiled and the quickening of the traveller."

رَعَى اللهُ أَيَّاماً تَقَضَّى نَعِيمُهَاوَتَذْكَارُهَا مَا زَالَ نُصْبَ سَرَائِرِي

Raʿā Allāhu ayyāman taqaḍḍā naʿīmuhā, Watadhkāruhā mā zāla nuṣba sarāʾirī

May Allah protect days whose bliss has passed, whose memory still stands before my inmost heart.

خَلِيلَيَّ هَلْ مِنْ عَوْدَةٍ لِلَيَالِيتَوَلَّتْ فَإِنِّي بَعْدَهَا غَيْرُ صَابِرِ

Khalīlayya hal min ʿawdatin lilayālī, Tawallat faʾinnī baʿdahā ghayru ṣābiri

My two friends, is there any return for nights that have gone? For after them I cannot be patient.