1. إِذا رَشَقَت دُنياكَ هَذي إِلى الفَتى

    رَمَتهُ بِنَبلٍ مِن غِوايَتِها رَشقا

    When this world of yours fixes her sights upon a young man,

    she shoots him with arrows of her beguilement—a volley.

  2. فَتُحرِجُهُ غَمّاً وَتُوَسِّعُهُ أَذىً

    وَإِن ذَمَّها جَهراً أَسَرَّ لَها عِشقا

    She hems him in with grief and overwhelms him with harm;

    though he condemns her openly, he secretly harbors love for her.

  3. وَقَد زَعَموا أَنَّ الشَقِيَّ هُوَ الَّذي

    حَوى السَعدَ فيها وَالسَعادَةَ لِلأَشقى

    They have claimed that the wretched one is he

    who has amassed good fortune in her, and the power to make the most wretched happy.

  4. فَإِن كانَ حَقّاً ما يُقالُ فَإِنَّها

    مَنامٌ يُعيدُ النِقسَ في حُكمِهِ مِشقا

    So if what is said is true, then she is

    a dream that, by its decree, reduces engraving to a mere penmanship exercise.

  5. رَأى أُمَّ دَفرٍ أَهلُها أُمَّ عَنبَرٍ

    فَما صَرَفوا عَنها مَعاطِسَهُم نَشقا

    Her people took “Mother of Stench” for “Mother of Ambergris,”

    and so they never turned their nostrils from her, but breathed her in.