1. يا ساجعاً بين الخزام والشيح

    أرّقت أجفاني

    O cooing bird among lavender and wormwood,

    You have kept my eyelids sleepless.

  2. زد في تغاريدك وفي الترانيح

    فصوتك أشجاني

    Increase your birdsong and your lilting strains,

    For your voice has stirred my sorrow.

  3. فصرت مما بي أهايم الريح

    مشتاق ولهان

    So, from what ails me, I have come to roam with the wind,

    Yearning, distraught with love.

  4. وكدت إذا ضاقت فرائصي أصيح

    شوقا إلى الغاني

    And when my breast grew tight, I nearly cried out,

    In longing for the lovely beloved:

  5. مهفهف القدّ الرشيق الأملد

    باهي الخدود المذهبه بعسجد

    Slender of figure, graceful and supple,

    With radiant cheeks gilded in pure gold.

  6. رعيا لذاك البهكني الأغيد

    من نوره يزرى على المصابيح

    May that tender, graceful one be cherished,

    Whose light puts the lamps to shame:

  7. الشمس والثاني

    البدر ان شئتم بذاك تصريح

    The sun—and the second,

    The full moon, if you wish it stated plainly.

  8. ما ان له ثاني

    أعنى بها لبنا فديت لبنا

    He has no equal.

    By this I mean Lubna—may I be a ransom for Lubna,

  9. رمّانة الكعبين

    قولوا لها ما ترحمي المعنا

    Whose breasts are round as pomegranates.

    Tell her: 'Will you not pity the tormented one,

  10. مسهد الجفنين

    جسمي بها مضنا وأيّ مضنا

    Whose eyelids are robbed of sleep?'

    My body is wasted for her—how utterly wasted!

  11. ما مرّ طعم البين

    كم منه من صرعى وكم مجاريح

    How bitter is the taste of parting!

    How many lie slain by it, and how many wounded!

  12. كم معمد عاني

    ان الهوى سلطانه لقاهر

    How many a stricken captive!

    Indeed, love's dominion is overpowering,

  13. وليس منه مانع وناصر

    ألا إذا أسعف باللقا المهاجر

    And against it there is neither protector nor helper,

    Except when the forsaking beloved grants a meeting,

  14. وزالت اللوعات والتباريح

    بقربه الهاني

    And the pangs and torments vanish

    Through his blissful nearness,

  15. وأضحى الحمى من بعد هجره بيح

    للقاطف الجاني

    And after his estrangement, the preserve lies open

    To the plucker, the gatherer of fruit.