اهلا بهذا الاهيف البسام

اهداه للولهان طيف منام

Welcome to this slender, ever-smiling one!

A dream-phantom brought him to the lovesick one.

حيت بغلغلة الكرى انواره

فبيقظتي خلت الضياء امامي

His radiance greeted me in the deep stirrings of slumber.

So, awake, I imagined the light before me.

يا ليت لو تشفى بليت سقيمة

او تمزج اليقظات بالاحلام

Oh, if only I could be healed, afflicted and ailing,

Or waking hours were mingled with dreams.

كنا وكان لنا زمان مسعف

والحب في خدري نزيل خيامي

We were together, and time favored us,

And love, in my secluded chamber, was a guest in my tents.

ومدام مرشفه اللطيف معالي

شروى المعلل من عتيق مدام

And the wine of his delicate lips was my exaltation,

Like one refreshed by vintage wine.

والعندليب على الغصون مبرقم

شتان بين غرامه وغرامي

And the nightingale upon the boughs is dappled;

How far apart are his passion and mine!

نضحي على فرش الغرام كأننا

نمنا وللاشواق غير نيام

We spend the morning on beds of passion, as though

We had slept, yet yearning leaves us sleepless.

والريم يلفته الدلال فيلتوى

ولقد عرفت تلفت الآرام

And coyness turns the gazelle, making him sway aside;

And indeed I have known the gazelles' turning glances.

واراه والهفي ضجيعي ينخلي

في راحتيّ تقول بدرتمام

And I see him—ah, my yearning!—my bedmate, secluded

Within my two palms—you would say: a full moon.

فبقربه طيب الحياة وانه

بعذيب ريقته شفاء سقامي

For in his nearness lies life's sweetness, and he, indeed,

Is, through his sweet saliva, the cure for my sickness.

يرمي بنبل العين قلبي عامدا

ويطير بي قلبي لذاك الرامي

He deliberately shoots the eye's arrows at my heart,

And my heart carries me flying to that archer.

بالله يا طيف الكرى ايجود لي

زمني بما افرغت في اوهامي

By God, O phantom of slumber, will I be granted

By my days what you poured into my imaginings?

اضغاث احلام وجود شخوصنا

فارقب اقلب حوادث الايام

Our bodily existence is a jumble of dreams;

So I watch, pondering the events of the days.