رعيا لساجي الكحيل

روحي فدا له من جميع الأسوى

May the languid, kohl-eyed one be protected.

May my soul ransom him from every harm.

فليس عنه بديل

ذاك الذي يعشق وحيث يهوى

For there is no substitute for him.

That is the one to be adored, wherever he wishes.

قالوا تسلى قليل

فقلت واللَه ليس عنه سلوى

They said, “Console yourself a little.”

So I said, “By God, there is no forgetting him.”

ان السلوّ مستحيل

عمن له وسط القليب مثوى

Indeed, forgetting is impossible

Of him whose dwelling is within the little heart.

ذاك الذي نهوى وذي نريده

هو رأس مالي والذي أفيده

That is the one we love and the one we desire.

He is my capital and what I gain.

جوارحي ملكه وقبضة إيده

My limbs are his property, in the grasp of his hand.

هل للقا من سبيل

يا سيدي أو تستمع لشكوى

Is there any way to meet?

O my master, or will you listen to my complaint?

الصبر كله جميل

أما على هجرك فمحض بلوى

Patience is altogether beautiful;

But patience with your desertion is sheer affliction.

قد زاد عذلك وطال

يا عاذلي في حاني الوشامه

Your reproach has increased and lasted long,

O you who blame me for the one with the curved tattoo-mark.

ذكره على كلّ حال

جنة ولو فيه عتب أو ملامه

Remembering him in every circumstance

Is paradise, even if it holds reproach or blame.

قد حاز كلّ الجمال

حرام ساجي البابلي حرامه

He has attained all beauty.

Forbidding the languid Babylonian is forbidden.

واللَه ماله مثيل

ما هند ما ليلى وحسن علوى

By God, he has no equal.

What are Hind, Layla, and ʿAlwā’s beauty beside him?

أفديك يا كلي بكلّ كلى

وبيح لك في العالمين قتلي

I ransom you, O my all, with my whole self.

And I permit you to kill me in all the worlds.

يلذّ لي فيما تحبّ ذلي

My abasement in whatever you love is sweet to me.

عبدك بسيفك قتيل

فلا قود تخشى ولزم دعوى

Your slave is slain by your sword.

So fear neither retaliation nor liability to a lawsuit.

هذا بنصّ الدليل

صحيح والفتوى أصحّ فتوى

This, by the explicit wording of the proof,

Is sound, and the legal ruling is the soundest of rulings.