أخو دَنَفٍ رَمَتهُ فاقصدته

أخو دَنَفٍ رَمَتهُ فاقصدته

سهامٌ من جفونكِ لاتطيشُ

سهامٌ من جفونكِ لاتطيشُ

A man consumed by love-sickness—they struck him and felled him:

A man wasted by sickness, shot at and laid low

arrows from your eyelids that never miss.

By arrows from your eyelids that never miss.

قواتلُ لا نصالَ سوى احورارٍ

قواتلُ لا نصالَ سوى احورارٍ

بهنَّ ولا سوى الأهداب ريشُ

بهنَّ ولا سوى الأهداب ريشُ

Deadly shafts, with no arrowheads but the dark-eyed gleam

Deadly, with no arrowheads but the eyes’ stark black and white,

within them, and no fletching but the lashes.

And no feathers upon them but the eyelashes.

أصبنَ سواءَ مُهجته فأضحى

أصبنَ سواءَ مُهجته فأضحى

سقيماً لا يموتُ ولا يعيش

سقيماً لا يموتُ ولا يعيش

They struck the very core of his soul, so he became

They struck the very center of his heart, and he became

ailing—neither dying nor living.

Sick, neither dying nor living.

كئيبٌ إن ترحَّلَ عنه جيشٌ

كئيبٌ إن ترحَّلَ عنه جيشٌ

من البلوى أناخ به جيوشُ

من البلوى أناخ به جيوشُ

Grief-stricken, if an army should march away from him

Forlorn—if an army departs from him

of affliction, whole armies pitch camp upon him.

Of affliction, armies encamp upon him.