At dawn they alighted in Wádí ’l-‘Aqíq after having…

At dawn they alighted in Wádí ’l-‘Aqíq after having traversed many a deep ravine,
And at daybreak they descried a cairn shining on the top of a mountain peak.
When the vulture desires to reach it he is unable, and the eggs of the anúq are below it.
Ornaments are set upon it: its foundations are lofty, like al-‘Aqúq.
And they had written some lines which were communicated to them: 'Oh, who will help a forlorn and longing lover,
Who although his thought soars above this Arcturus, is trodden underfoot like burning ashes,
And whose home is beside this Aquila, yet he has died in tears the death of the drowned?
His love hath delivered him to calamities in this place without a brother to befriend him.
Then, O ye who come to the waters of the well, and O ye who inhabit Wádí ’l-‘Aqíq,
And O thou who seekest Medina to visit it, and O ye who travel on this road,
Look on us again with pity! for we were robbed, a little after dawn, a little before sunrise,
Of a bright-faced lissome damsel sweet of breath, diffusing a perfume like shredded musk,
Swaying drunkenly to and fro like the branches, fresh as raw silk, which the winds have bent,
Shaking, like the hump of a stallion-camel, fearsome hips huge as sand-hills.
No censor blamed me for loving her, and my friend did not blame me for loving her.
If any censor had blamed me for loving her, my sobbing would have been my answer to him.
My desire is my troop of camels and my grief is my garment and my passion is my morning drink and my tears are my evening drink.'