1. قَولُها أَحسَنُ شَيءٍ

    بَلَدٌ لَفَّ حَبيبا

    Her words: “The loveliest thing

    is a place that enfolded a beloved.”

  2. وَشِفاءُ القَلبِ مِنها

    إِذ تَواعَدنا الكَثِيبا

    And from her comes the heart’s healing,

    when we agreed to meet at the sand dune.

  3. نَأَيُّها سُقمٌ وَأَش

    تاقُ إِذا أَمسَت قَرِيبا

    Her distance is an illness, and I yearn

    when evening finds her nearby.

  4. لَيتَ هَذا اللَيلَ شَهرٌ

    لا نَرى فيهِ غَريبا

    Would that this night were a month long,

    and we saw no stranger within it:

  5. مُقمِرٌ غَيَّبَ عَنّا

    مَن أَرَدنا أَن يَغيبا

    moonlit, keeping from us

    those we wished would stay away,

  6. غَيرَ أَسماءَ وَجُملٍ

    ثُمَّ لا نَخشى رَقيبا

    except Asma and Juml;

    then we would fear no watcher.

  7. جَلَسَت مَجلسَ صِدقٍ

    جَمَعَت حُسناً وَطِيبا

    She sat in a fine place,

    combining beauty and fragrance,

  8. دَمِثَ المَقعَدِ وَالمَو

    طِئِ رَيّانَ خَصِيبا

    soft to sit upon and to tread,

    well-watered and fertile.

  9. أَفرَغَت فيهِ الثُرَيّا

    مَن ذَرى الدَلوِ سُكُوبا

    The Pleiades poured upon it

    torrents from the bucket’s heights,

  10. عاصِباً بِالنَبتِ زُرعاً

    وَمَعَ الزَرعِ قُضُوبا

    wreathing it in plants and crops,

    and, with the crops, tender shoots.

  11. قَولَها لِي وَهِيَ تُذرى

    دَمعَ عَينَيها غُرُوبا

    Her words to me, as she shed

    tears from her eyes in bucketfuls:

  12. إِنَّنا كُنا كَهَذا

    أَنصَحَ الناسِ جُيُوبا

    “Indeed, we were like this,

    the sincerest-hearted of people,

  13. وَحَبَوناهُ بِوُدٍّ

    لَم يَكُن مِنّا مَشُوبا

    and we bestowed on him affection

    untainted on our part.

  14. فَجَزانا أَن حَمَدنا

    وُدَّهُ أَن لا يَغيبا

    So he repaid us for praising

    his love by not staying away;

  15. وَجَزانا اليَومَ عاراً

    حِينَ يُنثا وَعُيُوبا

    and today he repaid us with shame,

    and faults, when word is spread.”