1. كأنما عذاره

    سطرا سواد في يقق

    As though his cheek-down

    were two lines of black on pure white;

  2. كأنما رضابه

    خمر بمسك قد فتق

    as though his saliva

    were wine blended with musk.

  3. إن نكته فاستمعن

    نصحك من خل شفق

    If you fuck him, then heed

    the counsel given you by a caring friend:

  4. كن حذراً كن حذراً

    كن حذراً من الغرق

    Be wary, be wary,

    be wary of drowning,

  5. لأنه من سعة

    يصلح للبحر طبق

    for it is so wide

    it could serve as a lid for the sea.

  6. إن قلت لي إني حسن

    والحسن مني مسترق

    If you tell me, 'I am beautiful,

    and beauty is stolen from me,'

  7. قلنا مقالاً بيناً

    لا كذباً ولا خرق

    we speak plainly,

    with neither lies nor folly:

  8. كل امرء صوره

    خاقه كما اتفق

    Every person is fashioned

    by his creator, as chance would have it.

  9. كن غصناً كن قمراً

    كن شمس دجن في الأفق

    Be a bough, be a moon,

    be the sun of a cloudy day on the horizon;

  10. كن يوسف الحسن الذي

    من طينه الحسن خلق

    be Yusuf in beauty, the one

    from whose clay beauty was created.

  11. هل أنت إلا خلق

    زدت على كل خلق

    Are you anything but a worn-out rag,

    outdoing every other rag?

  12. يا أيها العلق الذي

    فقحته بلا غلق

    O you sodomite, whose

    anus has no lock:

  13. خانك في الود الذي

    بوده كنت نثق

    he betrayed you in love—the one

    in whose love you used to trust.