إذا ما تَمنَّيتَ المَنايا فلم تَنَل

إذا ما تَمنَّيتَ المَنايا فلم تَنَل

مُناكَ ولَم تَظفَر بِها في المَعادِنِ

مُناكَ ولَم تَظفَر بِها في المَعادِنِ

If you long for death, yet fail to attain

If you long for death but fail to attain

If you wish for death but do not attain it

your desire, and cannot find it in its accustomed haunts,

Your wish, and do not find it in the mines,

Nor find it in the mines

فَدونَكَ أصداغَ الظِّباءِ فإن خَلَت

فَدونَكَ أصداغَ الظِّباءِ فإن خَلَت

فَما هِيَ إلا في العُيُونِ الفَواتِنِ

فَما هِيَ إلا في العُيُونِ الفَواتِنِ

then seek the gazelles’ temples; if those prove empty,

Then turn to the gazelles’ temple-locks; if they hold none,

Then look to the hillsides of gazelles for there

death is found nowhere but in their bewitching eyes.

It lies only in the bewitching eyes.

Only in the eyes of beauties does death reside