هَلْ نَارُ لَيْلَى بَدَتْ لَيْلاً بِذِي سَلَمِ

هَلْ نَارُ لَيْلَى بَدَتْ لَيْلاً بِذِي سَلَمِأَمْ بَارِقٌ لَاحَ فِي الزَّوْرَاءِ فَالعَلَمِ

Hal nāru laylā badat laylan bidhī salami, Am bāriqun lāḥa fī az-zawrāʾi fa-al-ʿalami

Is that Layla's fire that appeared by night at Dhu Salam, or a lightning flash that gleamed over al-Zawra' and al-'Alam?

أَرْوَاحَ نَعْمَانَ هَلَّا نَسْمَةٌ سَحَراًوَمَاءَ وَجْرَةَ هَلَّا نَهْلَةٌ بِفَمِ

Arwāḥa naʿmāna hallā nasmatun saḥaran, Wamāʾa wajrata hallā nahlatun bifami

O breezes of Na'man, will you not send a breath at dawn? O water of Wajra, will you not give a single sip to my lips?

يَا سَائِقَ الظَّعْنِ يَطْوِي البِيدَ مُعْتَسِفاًطَيَّ السِّجِلِّ بِذَاتِ الشِّيحِ مِنْ إِضَمِ

Yā sāʾiqa aẓ-ẓaʿni yaṭwī al-bīda muʿtasifan, Ṭayya as-sijilli bidhāti ash-shīḥi min iḍami

O driver of the howdah camels, crossing the wastes at will, folding them as a scroll is folded, at Dhat al-Shih near Idam,

عُجْ بِالحِمَى يَا رَعَاكَ اللهُ مُعْتَمِداًخَمِيلَةَ الضَّالِ ذَاتَ الرَّنْدِ وَالخُزُمِ

ʿuj bi-al-ḥimā yā raʿāka Allāhu muʿtamidan, Khamīlata aḍ-ḍāli dhāta ar-randi wa-al-khuzumi

Turn aside to the sanctuary, may Allah protect you, making for the thicket of lote trees with its rand and its lavender.

وَقِفْ بِسَلْعٍ وَسَلْ بِالجِزْعِ هَلْ مُطِرَتْبِالرَّقْمَتَيْنِ أُثَيْلَاتٌ بِمُنْسَجِمِ

Waqif bisalʿin wasal bi-al-jizʿi hal muṭirat, Bi-ar-raqmatayni uthaylātun bimunsajimi

Stop at Sal', and ask at the bend of the valley whether the little tamarisks of al-Raqmatayn were watered by pouring rain.

نَاشَدْتُكَ اللهَ إِنْ جُزْتَ العَقِيقَ ضُحًىفَاقْرَ السَّلَامَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرَ مُحْتَشِمِ

Nāshadtuka Allāha in juzta al-ʿaqīqa ḍuḥan, Faqra as-salāma ʿalayhim ghayra muḥtashimi

I beseech you by Allah, if you pass al-'Aqiq in the forenoon, greet them for me without shyness,

وَقُلْ تَرَكْتُ صَرِيعاً فِي دِيَارِكُمُحَيّاً كَمَيْتٍ يُعِيرُ السُّقْمَ لِلسَّقَمِ

Waqul taraktu ṣarīʿan fī diyārikumu, Ḥayyan kamaytin yuʿīru as-suqma lilssaqami

And say: "I left one lying prostrate in your dwellings, alive yet like the dead, lending sickness to sickness itself.

فَمِنْ فُؤَادِي لَهِيبٌ نَابَ عَنْ قَبَسٍوَمِنْ جُفُونِيَ دَمْعٌ فَاضَ كَالدِّيَمِ

Famin fuʾādī lahībun nāba ʿan qabasin, Wamin jufūniya damʿun fāḍa ka-ad-diyami

From his heart rises a flame that serves in place of a firebrand, and from his eyelids tears pour like the rains."

وَهَذِهِ سُنَّةُ العُشَّاقِ مَا عَلِقُوابِشَادِنٍ فَخَلَا عُضْوٌ مِنَ الأَلَمِ

Wahadhihi sunnatu al-ʿushshāqi mā ʿaliqū, Bishādinin fakhalā ʿuḍwun mina al-ʾalami

Such is the way of lovers: whenever they fall for a fawn, not one limb of theirs is left free of pain.

يَا لَائِماً لَامَنِي فِي حُبِّهِمْ سَفَهاًكُفَّ المَلَامَ فَلَوْ أَحْبَبْتَ لَمْ تَلُمِ

Yā lāʾiman lāmanī fī ḥubbihim safahan, Kuffa al-malāma falaw aḥbabta lam talumi

O you who foolishly blame me for loving them, cease your blame: had you ever loved, you would not blame.

وَحُرْمَةِ الوَصْلِ وَالوِدِّ العَتِيقِ وَبِالْعَهْدِ الوَثِيقِ وَمَا قَدْ كَانَ فِي القِدَمِ

Waḥurmati al-waṣli wa-al-widdi al-ʿatīqi wabi-al-, ʿahdi al-wathīqi wamā qad kāna fī al-qidami

By the sanctity of union and of our long-standing love, and by the firm covenant, and all that was between us in days of old,

مَا حُلْتُ عَنْهُمْ بِسُلْوَانٍ وَلَا بَدَلٍلَيْسَ التَّبَدُّلُ وَالسُّلْوَانُ مِنْ شِيَمِي

Mā ḥultu ʿanhum bisulwānin walā badalin, Laysa at-tabaddulu wa-as-sulwānu min shiyamī

I never turned from them by forgetting or for another; change and forgetfulness are not my nature.

رُدُّوا الرُّقَادَ لِجَفْنِي عَلَّ طَيْفَكُمُبِمَضْجَعِي زَائِرٌ فِي غَفْلَةِ الحُلُمِ

Ruddū ar-ruqāda lijafnī ʿalla ṭayfakumu, Bimaḍjaʿī zāʾirun fī ghaflati al-ḥulumi

Give back sleep to my eyelids; perhaps your phantom may visit my bed in an unguarded moment of dreams.

آهاً لِأَيَّامِنَا بِالخَيْفِ لَوْ بَقِيَتْعَشْراً وَوَاهاً عَلَيْهَا كَيْفَ لَمْ تَدُمِ

ʾāhan liʾayyāminā bi-al-khayfi law baqiyat, ʿashran wawāhan ʿalayhā kayfa lam tadumi

Ah, for our days at al-Khayf! Had they only lasted ten more! And alas for them, how they did not endure!

هَيْهَاتِ وَا أَسَفِي لَوْ كَانَ يَنْفَعُنِيأَوْ كَانَ يُجْدِي عَلَى مَا فَاتَ وَانَدَمِي

Hayhāti wā asafī law kāna yanfaʿunī, Aw kāna yujdī ʿalā mā fāta wānadamī

How far it is! O my sorrow, if only it could help me, or if my regret could avail for what is gone!

عَنِّي إِلَيْكُمْ ظِبَاءَ المُنْحَنَى كَرَماًعَهِدْتُ طَرْفِيَ لَمْ يَنْظُرْ لِغَيْرِهِمِ

ʿannī ilaykum ẓibāʾa al-munḥanā karaman, ʿahidtu ṭarfiya lam yanẓur lighayrihimi

Keep away from me, O gazelles of the winding valley, I beg you; I have known my eye never to look at any but them,

طَوْعاً لِقَاضٍ أَتَى فِي حُكْمِهِ عَجَباًأَفْتَى بِسَفْكِ دَمِي فِي الحِلِّ وَالحَرَمِ

Ṭawʿan liqāḍin atā fī ḥukmihi ʿajaban, Aftā bisafki damī fī al-ḥilli wa-al-ḥarami

In obedience to a judge who passed a wondrous sentence: he decreed the shedding of my blood both outside the sanctuary and within it,

أَصَمَّ لَمْ يَسْمَعِ الشَّكْوَى وَأَبْكَمَ لَمْيُحِرْ جَوَاباً وَعَنْ حَالِ المَشُوقِ عَمِي

Aṣamma lam yasmaʿi ash-shakwā waʾabkama lam, Yuḥir jawāban waʿan ḥāli al-mashūqi ʿamī

Deaf, he did not hear my complaint; dumb, he did not return an answer; and to the state of the one who longs, he was blind.