تأملت في الحمَّامِ تحتَ مآزرٍ

تأملت في الحمَّامِ تحتَ مآزرٍ

روادفَ غيدٍ ما سناها بغائب

روادفَ غيدٍ ما سناها بغائب

I gazed in the bathhouse, beneath waist-wraps,

I gazed upon the doves below the eaves

at the buttocks of graceful beauties, whose radiance was not hidden;

Aligned in rows, though absent were their mates

كأنيَ من هذي وهاتيك ناظرٌ

كأنيَ من هذي وهاتيك ناظرٌ

بياضَ العطايا في سوادِ المطالب

بياضَ العطايا في سوادِ المطالب

as though, in this one and that, I were beholding

As though between these here and those yon

the whiteness of gifts amid the blackness of requests.

I spy gifts’ pallor midst pursuits so dark