1. خَليلَيَّ ما للقَلبِ يَهفُو مِنَ الأسَى

    وَمَا لِدُمُوعِ العَينِ كالعَينِ تَنضَخُ

    My two friends, why does the heart flutter with sorrow?

    And why do the eye’s tears gush like a spring?

  2. خُلِقتُ كما شَاءَ الهَوى طَوعَ حُكمِهِ

    فِها أنَأ أبني مُنذُ حينٍ وأفسَخُ

    I was created as passion willed, obedient to its decree;

    So here I am: for some time I have been building and undoing.

  3. خَضَعتُ لمَحبُوبٍ أذِلُّ لِعِزِّهِ

    فَيَنأَى على ذُلٍّ لَدَيهِ وينسَخُ

    I submitted to a beloved, abasing myself before his might.

    So he draws away despite my abasement before him, and effaces [me].

  4. خَلَعتُ عِذاري في هَواهُ كأنَّني

    أصَمُّ عَنِ العُذَّالِ في لاحُبِّ أصلَخُ

    I cast off my bridle in my passion for him, as though I were

    deaf to reproachers in love—stone-deaf.

  5. خَفيتُ عَنِ الأبصارِ لولا بَقيَّةٌ

    مِنَ القَلبِ يبقَى الحُبُّ فيها فَيَصرُخُ

    I would have vanished from sight, but for a remnant

    of the heart, where love remains and cries out.

  6. خيالِي كَما لاَح الخِلالُ وراءَهُ

    فؤادٌ بِمَسفُوحِ الدِّماءِ مُضَمَّخُ

    My spectral form is like a toothpick glimpsed; behind it lies

    a heart drenched in spilled blood.

  7. خَلِيُّ وَلكن مِن سِواكَ وَفي الحَشَى

    ضِرامٌ بأنفاسِ الصَّبَابَةِ تُنفَخُ

    I am free of all but you; and within my breast

    a blaze is fanned by the breaths of yearning.

  8. خِطابُكَ رَيحاني ورَوحي وجَنَّتي

    ومِن دونهِ للرُّوحِ في الجِسم بَرزَخُ

    Your speech is my sweet basil, my solace, and my paradise;

    and without it, a barrier hems the soul within the body.

  9. خَبَأتُ الهوَى وَهوَ الهَوانُ حَقيقَةً

    فَدَعوَتُهُ تُشجي ودَعواهُ تَرسُخُ

    I concealed passion—which, in truth, is humiliation;

    for its call stirs sorrow, and its claim takes root.

  10. خُذوا الوَجدَ عَن قَلبي عِياناً فإنَّما

    زَمانُ التَّصَابِي مِن زَمَاني يُؤَرَّخُ

    Learn longing firsthand from my heart, for

    the age of youthful dalliance is dated from my time alone.