1. طفنا بكعبة حسن قد ألفنا بها

    ظبى ممنعة من رعى مرعاها

    We circled a Kaaba of beauty, where we had befriended

    gazelles guarded against any grazing of their pasture.

  2. دنوت أطلب منها المرعى سفسطة

    فموهت واختلفت عني بيمناها

    I drew near, seeking pasture from her through sophistry;

    she dissembled and veered away from me to her right.

  3. فشردت وانثنت عني فاختلست

    عقلي وصار رهينا ما أحيلاها

    Then she fled and turned away from me, stealing

    my reason, which became a captive—how cunning she is!

  4. سألتها الرفق بالمشتاق إنا له

    ونار وجد نبال الجفن تصلاها

    I asked her for gentleness toward the yearning lover—indeed, we are his—

    and a fire of longing in which the eyelid's arrows burn.

  5. عذبت حبك يا سلمى وقد رشقت

    أحشاءه منك أسهم جهلناها

    You tormented your lover, O Salma; already pierced were

    his entrails by arrows from you that we did not know.

  6. هيهات هيهات أن أسلو وقد غنمت

    لبى وعقلي وروحي عند مسراها

    Far, far be it that I forget, when she has taken as spoils

    my heart's core, my reason, and my soul during her night journey.

  7. فصرت أرصدها في كل مدرجة

    حيران لا يرعوي يحدو مطاياها

    So I began watching for her on every path,

    bewildered, never desisting, chanting her mounts onward.

  8. لا تنكروا خفقاني وهي شاردة

    فكيف لو كشفت عنها معماها

    Do not reproach my heart's fluttering while she flees;

    what, then, if she lifted the mystery shrouding her?

  9. بالله هل حدثتك النفس عن خبري

    هيهات هيهات جور الوصل أقصاها

    By God, has your soul told you of my story?

    Far away, far away—the injustice of union has driven her away.

  10. قد جئت منها إليها بافتقار وقد

    رجوت تقبيل يمناها ويمناها

    I came from her to her in need, and

    had hoped to kiss her right hand, and her right hand.

  11. سألتها بصميم الحب تغفر لي

    ما قد جنيت بكنعان وبصراها

    I asked her, from love's very depths, to forgive me

    what I had committed in Canaan and her Busra.

  12. يا رب إني اقترفت في الهوى ما به

    أرد لكن ظنونا فيك ترعاها

    O Lord, I have committed in love that for which

    I am rejected; yet there are hopes in You that You nurture.

  13. تالله لو فتكت روحي لما برحت

    تسعى بأثر لمجراها ومرساها

    By God, even were my soul slain, it would never cease

    hastening in her wake toward her course and anchorage.

  14. ناديت من أسف قلبي فقلت له

    إياك أن تنثني عن طيب رياها

    In grief I called to my heart and said to it:

    Beware of turning away from her sweet fragrance.

  15. كأنها غصن بان في معاطفها

    ولا يزال قليبي طائرا أعلاها

    She is like a bān-tree branch in the curves of her form,

    and my little heart keeps flying above her.

  16. إن لها في الحشا ميقاتا ليس لها

    فيه شريك في دنياها وأخراها

    She has an appointed time within my breast, and has no

    partner there, in her world or her hereafter.

  17. فمل بكون وجود الوهم وامح له

    تكاثرا في خيال منه وافاها

    So turn aside the realm of illusory existence, and efface its

    multiplicity in a fantasy that came from it to her.

  18. وخذ بلوح قلوب وأمط ما بها

    من الشكوك ولا تدع خطاياها

    And take hold of the tablet of hearts, and remove whatever is in them

    of doubts, and leave none of their sins.

  19. وصل تفاصيل فرق وأزل نقطة

    بالغين توهمني ضدا وأشباها

    And join the particulars of separation, and remove a dot

    from the ghayn that makes me imagine an opposite and likenesses.

  20. ناديت من أسف قلبي فقلت له

    يا قلب كم من أسير بات يرعاها

    In grief I called to my heart and said to it:

    O heart, how many a captive has spent the night watching over her!

  21. فقال ما لعبت أيدي النوى بهم

    مثلي ولا كل من رق لعلياها

    It said: The hands of separation have not toyed with them

    as with me, nor with all enslaved to her lofty rank.

  22. ما إن له في الهوى قصد سوى أن ترى

    في الحيّ هلكي حيارى من ثناياها

    He has no aim in love except that you should see

    among the tribe the slain, bewildered by her front teeth.

  23. فنحن أيتام في حجر الهوى ولكم

    جاروا علينا وما وفوا وصاياها

    We are orphans in love's lap, and how often

    they have wronged us and failed to fulfill her injunctions.

  24. سألتها أين قلبي عندما ظعنت

    في السير قالت أراه عند مسعاها

    I asked her where my heart was when she departed

    on her journey. She said: I see it where she hastens.

  25. فاستفهمتني وقالت أي قلب ترى

    فقلت أوهاها أدناها وأشقاها

    Then she questioned me, saying: Which heart do you see?

    I said: The weakest of them, the lowliest, and the most wretched.

  26. تريد وصلي ببطنان الأراك هوى

    وإنما غمرات الحسن تلهاها

    She desires union with me, out of love, in the hollows of the arāk trees,

    yet only beauty's engulfing waves distract her.

  27. فأينما تولوا فثم وجه لها

    فكل نجد لها دار ومغناها

    So wherever you turn, there is her face;

    every upland is a home for her, and her dwelling-place.

  28. ما بين نفى وإثبات تراهم فهم

    ما بين ذات ووصف في مراياها

    Between negation and affirmation you see them, for they are

    between essence and attribute, in her mirrors.

  29. إياك أن تكشفي عنك النقاب فلا

    نهم بالوصل إلا أن نرى طه

    Beware of lifting the veil from yourself, for we do not

    aspire to union except to behold Taha.