1. ما أَحسَنَ ما يَقرا حَبيبيَ شِعري

    فيهِ غَزلاً وَسامِع لا يَدري

    How beautifully my beloved reads my verse—

    love poetry about him, while a listener is unaware!

  2. يَدري قَمَري بِأَنَّ فيهِ دُرَراً

    لاقى دُرَراً مُستخرجا مِن بَحرِ

    My moon knows that it contains pearls;

    he found pearls extracted from a sea.

  3. بَحرٌ مَدَدٌ لَهُ ذَكاءٌ خُلِقا

    حَتّى لَحَسِبتُ فِكرَهُ مِن جَمرِ

    A sea replenished by an intelligence created for it,

    till I truly thought his mind was made of embers.

  4. جَمرٌ مُتَوقِّدٌ سَرى في حُجُبٍ

    لِلخَد فَأخالُ جَمرهُ لا يَسرِي

    Blazing embers coursed through veils

    of the cheek; I imagine his embers do not spread.

  5. يَسرِي لِشَجٍ فُؤادُهُ في حَرقٍ

    قَد ذابَ أَسىً مِن ساكِنٍ في القَصرِ

    They spread to a grieving man whose heart is ablaze,

    melted with sorrow for one dwelling in the palace.

  6. قَصرٌ لِرَشاً كَأَنَّما طَلعتُهُ

    مِن شَمسِ ضُحىً أَو وجهُهُ مِن بَدرِ

    A palace for a young gazelle, whose countenance seems

    made of the midmorning sun, or his face of a full moon.

  7. بَدرٌ وَعَلَتهُ ظُلَّةٌ مِن شَعَرٍ

    يَهتَزُّ نَقاً مِن تَحتِ غُصنٍ نَضرِ

    A full moon, overhung by a canopy of hair;

    a sand dune sways beneath a verdant bough.

  8. نَضرٌ وَشَكا مِن رِدفِهِ مِن ثِقَلٍ

    فيهِ وَكَأَنَّ رِدفَهُ مِن صَخرِ

    Verdant, he complained of his rump, of the heaviness

    within it; and his rump seems made of rock.

  9. صَخرٌ كَفُؤادِ مَن هَوينا شَغَفاً

    فَيهِ فَلَقَد أَودى بِهِ لي صَبرِي

    Rock, like the heart of the one we loved with passion

    for him; because of him, my patience has indeed perished.

  10. صَبرٌ صَبرٌ مَتى يُجَرَّع صَبرٌ

    جِسماً دَنِفاً فَحيَّهل لِلقَبرِ

    Patience is bitter aloes; whenever aloes are forced down

    a wasted body, then onward to the grave!