لي قلب على المحبة قد شب

وجمرها لعمره لهوى شب

I have a heart that has grown up in love,

And its embers—by his life!—are passion ablaze.

آه كم تفعل الصبابة بالصب

زهموا ان من تشاغل بالحب

Ah, what yearning does to the lovesick lover!

They claimed that whoever busied himself with love

سلا عن حبيبه فافاقا

اين هذا وفي القلوب اما كن

Forgot his beloved and came to his senses.

How can that be, when hearts have places

للهوى والغرام في اللب ساكن

كم وكم حرك الغرام السواكن

For passion, and ardent love dwells in their core?

How often, how often, has love stirred what lay still!

كذبواهم ما قد بلونا ولكن

لم يكونوا فيما ارى عشاقا

They themselves denied what we have experienced, but

They were not, as I see it, lovers.

ذاك قول عن مذهب العشق قد شذ

وانا في الحبيب أي والهوى فذ

That saying has strayed from the creed of love.

And in loving the beloved—aye, by love!—I am peerless.

يا حبيباً بذكره الروح تلنذ

كيف شغلى بلذة عنك واللذ

O beloved, in whose remembrance the soul delights,

How could pleasure divert me from you, when delights

ات يحدثن لي اليك اشتياقا

ان نظرت السوى جمالك انظر

Awaken in me a longing for you?

If I look at anything else, I see your beauty.

بل وعيني لاجل عينك تقطر

كيف اسلو ومهجتي لك تسعر

Nay, my eye sheds tears for the sake of your eye.

How can I forget, when my heart burns for you?

كلما رمت سلوة نذهب الحر

قة زادت قلبي عليك احتراقاً

Whenever I sought solace to dispel the burning ache,

It made my heart burn still more for you.