1. ما بال شجوك ظاهرٌ لم تخفِه

    أعليك حق مطالب لم توفِهِ

    Why is your sorrow plain and unconcealed?

    Do you owe a claimant a debt you have not paid?

  2. أم قد صبوت إلى ربي وادي الظبا

    فتلا الغرام عليك آيةَ حتفه

    Or have you yearned for the hills of the Gazelles' Valley,

    so that passion recited over you the verse of its doom?

  3. أم قد ذكرت غزال ذيّاك الحمى

    بشهود ظبي الواديين وخشفه

    Or have you recalled the gazelle of that preserve

    on seeing the gazelle of the two valleys and its fawn?

  4. فالشيء معهودٌ برؤية مثله

    شكلاً ومذكورٌ بنظرة إلفه

    For a thing is recalled on seeing its like

    in form, and remembered at a glimpse of its companion.

  5. يا صاحبيَّ بلى تذكَّرتُ الحمى

    فأثار من وجدي الذي لم أُخفه

    O my two companions, yes, I recalled the preserve,

    and it stirred the longing in me that I did not conceal.

  6. وأهاج أحزاني تألُّق بارقٍ

    قد لاح من نحو الحمى بل حرفه

    And the flashing of lightning stirred my sorrows—

    it shone from the preserve's direction—rather, from its edge.

  7. طوراً كأنفاسي يدوم وتارة

    يبدو فيخفيه الغمام بسجفه

    At times it lasts like my sighs; at other times

    it appears, then the cloud hides it behind its veil.

  8. والريح تذكيه بما قد حمِّلت

    مني ويطفيه السحاب بوكفه

    And the wind fans it with what it has been made to carry

    from me, while the cloud quenches it with its falling rain.

  9. وبمهجتي ظبي يصيد بجيده ال

    آساد فضلاً عن كنانة طرفه

    And in my soul is a gazelle who hunts with his neck the

    lions, to say nothing of the quiver of his glance.

  10. وبي الذي يُغنيه ذابلُ قدِّه

    عن رمحه ولحاظُه عن سيفه

    And I am enamored of him whose supple, spear-like stature replaces

    his lance, and whose glances replace his sword.

  11. قد فاق بدرَ التِّمِّ في تدويره

    فتأنَّ بالإشراق ليلة نصفه

    He has surpassed the full moon in roundness;

    so delay your shining on the midmonth night.

  12. غصنٌ تؤوِّده رياح دلاله

    تيهاً وتثبته رزانة ردفه

    A bough that the winds of his coquetry bend

    in pride, while the weight of his haunches keeps it steady.

  13. جسدٌ من الجريال قوِّم شكله

    لكنّما الوصّاف حار بوصفه

    A body whose form was fashioned from pure gold;

    yet the master describer is at a loss to describe him.

  14. هو كيمياء الحسن إكسير البها

    كنزُ الملاحة في الجمال ولطفه

    He is the alchemy of beauty, the elixir of splendor,

    a treasure of loveliness in his beauty and his grace.

  15. ملك القلوب بمشرفيِّ لحاظه

    فشهوده في وجنتيه وكفِّه

    He conquered hearts with the Mashrafi sword of his glances;

    and his witnesses are on his cheeks and his palm.

  16. وكأن مغناطيس قلبي ذاتُه

    تقضي عليه بجذبِه وبجذفه

    And his very being seems the magnet of my heart,

    ruling over it by drawing it in and tearing it away.

  17. قد فرَّ قلبي نحوه ولقد غدا

    ما بين لبَّتِه وملعب شنفه

    My heart has fled toward him, and now it lies

    between the hollow of his throat and his earring's dancing-place.

  18. لا والذي أولاه صعب مقادتي

    وأذلّ عزمي باللّحاظ وعطفه

    Nay, by Him who gave him my unruly reins,

    and humbled my resolve with his glances and his graceful form—

  19. ما خُلتُ عن سَنَن المحبة كارهاً

    مضضَ الجفاء بظُلمه وبحيفه

    I have not strayed from love's path, though I loathe

    the pangs of coldness, with his oppression and injustice.

  20. كلا ولا خطرُ السلوذِ بخاطرٍ

    هو حاضرٌ تمثاله في جوفه

    Never! Nor is there danger of forgetting in a mind

    within whose depths his image is present.

  21. كيف السلوُّ ومهجتي مطروحة

    رهن المقلِّ على مواطئ خصفه

    How could I forget, while my soul lies cast down,

    a pauper's pledge, where his woven sandals tread?

  22. لو أشرب السلوان لم أسلُ ولو

    أدخلت قلبي دجلةً لم تطفه

    Were I to drink oblivion, I would not forget; and even if

    I plunged my heart into the Tigris, it would not quench it.

  23. في حسن يوسف قد تجلّى باهرا

    وبحزن يعقوب غدوتُ وضعفه

    He appeared, dazzling, in Joseph's beauty,

    while I was left with Jacob's sorrow and his frailty.

  24. فمن البشير بعَوده وإيابه

    نحوي ومن يأتي الكئيب بشفِّه

    Who, then, will bring glad tidings of his return and coming back

    to me? And who will bring the sorrowful man his sheer robe?

  25. يا بدرُ إن شطّ المزار ولم تطق

    وصلاً فزرني في المنام وطيفه

    O full moon, if the meeting-place is far and you cannot manage

    union, then visit me in sleep and its dream-vision.

  26. ما هكذا دَدَنُ الظباء العين بل

    ما هكذا صنعُ الأليف بإلفه

    Not so do the wide-eyed gazelles play; no,

    this is not how a companion treats his beloved.

  27. فلقد حفتَ وما أظنُّك مازحاً

    حين اصطحابي بالرضاب ورشفه

    For you swore—and I do not think you were joking—

    when we shared sweet saliva and sipped it,

  28. أن لا تميل إلى الوشاة وقولهم

    والحرُّ أولى أن يبُرَّ بحلفه

    that you would not incline toward the slanderers and their words;

    and a noble man ought above all to keep his oath.

  29. فارحم فديتك حرقتي وتولّهي

    واعطف فقد فنِيَ الفؤاد بسوفه

    So pity my burning anguish and bewildered longing—may I be your ransom—

    and show tenderness: the heart has perished through his promises of 'soon.'

  30. فلقد أطعتُ هواك منقاداً له

    وعصيتُ ما جاء العذول بعسفه

    For I have obeyed my love for you, yielding to it,

    and defied the reproacher's harsh dictates.

  31. ورأيتُ كل الراي رفض عواذلي

    والناس بين مُصوِّبٍ ومسفِّه

    And I saw all good sense in rejecting my reproachers,

    while some judge me right and others call me foolish.