1. قضى حُبُّه ألا تُطَاعَ عواذله

    وهل يَرعوى للعَذل والحبُّ شاغلُه

    His love decreed that his reproachers go unheeded.

    And would he yield to reproach while love engrosses him?

  2. محبٌّ يَحُلُّ الوَجد عقدَ اصطبَارِه

    إذا البَينُ شُدَّت للفراقِ رواحلُه

    A lover whose longing unravels the knot of his endurance

    when separation's mounts are saddled for departure.

  3. أأحبابَنا إن ألَّف الدهرُ شَملَنا

    تحلى بلُقياكم من العيش عاطلُه

    O our beloved ones, if time reunites us,

    what is bare in life would be adorned by meeting you.

  4. نأيتُم فلولا ما تُقَرِّرُهُ المُنى

    بقلبي عليكم ما استقَرَّت بلابلُه

    You have gone far away; but for what hopes affirm

    in my heart about you, its anxieties would never have settled.

  5. وأهيفُ يحكي الغصنُ لينَ قوامهِ

    وتفعَلُ أفعالَ الشَّمُولِ شَمائَلُه

    And a slender-waisted youth—a bough mimics his supple figure,

    and his graces do what wine does.

  6. يَلينُ إلى أن يَجرَحَ الوهمُ جسمَه

    وتَغرَقَ في ماء النعيم غَلائِلُه

    He is so delicate that imagination could wound his body,

    and his fine robes drown in the water of bliss.

  7. إذا ما بدا من شعرِهِ في ذوائبٍ

    رأيتَ غزالاً لم ترُعهُ حبائِلُه

    When he appears amid the tresses of his hair,

    you see a gazelle unfrightened by its own snares.

  8. رَمَى فانتضى من لحظ عينيهِ صارماً

    عذارَهُ عند الناظرين حمائَلُه

    He shot, then drew a keen sword from his eyes' glance;

    its baldrics, to onlookers, are the down along his cheeks.

  9. وسدَّدَ من عطفَيهِ لَدناً مُثَقَّفاً

    وناظُرهُ الفَّتانُ بالسِّحر عاملُه

    And from his flanks he leveled a supple, straightened spear;

    and his eye, bewitching with magic, is its spearpoint.

  10. أرى خصره أهدى لجسمي تحولَه

    فها أنا فيه مدنف الجسم ناحِلُه

    I see his waist has bestowed its transformation on my body;

    so here I am, because of him, sick in body and gaunt.

  11. رماني فأصمى نُبلُ عينيه مُقلتي

    فواهاً لصبٍّ قد أُصيبَت مَقائَلُه

    He shot me; his eyes' arrows dealt my eye a mortal blow.

    Ah, for a lover whose resting places have been struck!

  12. أأرجو حياةً عِندِ من ماسَ أو رنا

    ورامِحُهُ يَسطو على ونابله

    Can I hope for life beside one who sways or gazes,

    while his lancer and his archer assail me?

  13. وإني لمعتادٌ بحملِ خُطُوبهِ

    إذا كلَّ أو أعيى من الهمِّ حاملُه

    And I am indeed accustomed to bearing his trials,

    when sorrow's bearer grows weary or exhausted.

  14. أقول لفقري مرحبا لتيقني

    بأن عليّاً بالمكارم قائِلُه

    I say to my poverty, "Welcome!" for I am certain

    that Ali says it through acts of generosity.