1. جرى دمْعِيَ السَّيَّاحُ من جفْنِيَ البَالِي

    وقد زادَ يا أَهلَ المَعارِجِ بِلْبَالِي

    My streaming tears flowed from my worn eyelid,

    and my anguish grew, O people of the ascents.

  2. وقد صِرتُ صبًّا صابَهُ الصَّبُّ من صَبا

    أَحبَّائيَ المَشْغولِ فيهِمْ مَدًى بَالِي

    And I have become a lover, struck by a downpour from the east breeze

    of my beloveds, in whom my mind is ever absorbed.

  3. أخِلاَّيَ بالخَلْخالِ والخالِ خُلَّةٌ

    وبالحاجِبِ المَقْرونِ والمَبسَمِ الحَالِي

    My friends, I have a bond with the anklet and the beauty mark,

    and with the joined eyebrow and the adorned smiling mouth,

  4. وبالحَرَكاتِ الكَسْرَوِيَّاتِ في اللِّقا

    وبالصَّولَةِ الشَّمْخاءِ في رَكبِ عُذَّالِي

    and with the Khosrow-like movements when we meet,

    and with the lofty charge amid my reproachers' cavalcade.

  5. عِدوني وعودوني إذا اعْتَدَّني العِدى

    وعودوا بإسْعافٍ وعودوا عنِ القَالِي

    Promise me, and visit me when enemies take account of me;

    and return with aid, and turn away from the hater.

  6. ولا تَقْطَعوا حَبْلي فإنِّي عَقيلُكُمْ

    ولا تَمْحَقوا قلبي بعُقَدَةِ إعْقَالِي

    Do not sever my cord, for I am your captive,

    and do not crush my heart with the knot that binds me.

  7. ففيكُمْ بُنِيَ بائي وهائي وهَمْزَتي

    وأُلِّفَ لامي إنَّما دالُكُمْ دَالِي

    In you my bā’, my hā’, and my hamza were built,

    and my lām was joined; your dāl is my dāl.

  8. فيا من بياءِ اليَرْعِ يرعَوْنَ ذِمَّةً

    لمِثْلي ونونُ النُّورِ يُدهِشُ أَمثَالِي

    O you who, with the yā’ of the reed, keep a pledge

    to one like me, while light's nūn amazes my kind,

  9. سَلوا اللَّيْلَ عن عَيْني أَهَلْ عَنَّها الكَرَى

    وهل عمَّها ريحُ المَنامِ بأَطْلالِ

    ask the night about my eye: has sleep visited it?

    And has the breeze of sleep enveloped it with dew?

  10. وهل لَهِجٌ يوماً لِساني لعِزْوَةٍ

    سِواكُمْ وهل خَيَّلْتُ بالعمِّ والخالِ

    And has my tongue ever dwelt on any kinship

    other than you—or have I fancied a paternal or maternal uncle?

  11. وحقِّكُمُ حَقًّا وذُلِّل لعزِّكُمْ

    فُؤادي من معنَى سِوى ذِكرِكُمْ خَالِ

    By your right, in truth—humbled before your glory,

    my heart is empty of any meaning but remembrance of you.

  12. تعَشَّقْتُكُمْ من قبلِ تَكْوينِ طينَتي

    بذاكَ مَليكُ الأَمرِ بالغَيْبِ أَوْحى لي

    I loved you passionately before my clay was formed;

    the Sovereign of the command revealed that to me through the unseen.

  13. فمن فَيْضِكُمْ فَيْضي وأُنْمى لِبابِكُمْ

    ومن موجِ إحْساناتِكُمْ غَسْلُ أَوْحَالِي

    My outpouring comes from yours, and I am affiliated to your door;

    and from the wave of your kindness comes the washing of my mire.

  14. وإنْ كفَّني كَفٌّ كَفيفٌ مُكَفْكِفٌ

    كَفاني بكَفْكافِ الكِفايَةِ عن كَالِي

    And if a blind, restraining hand holds me back,

    it suffices me, with sufficiency's restraint, instead of my keeper [uncertain].

  15. وإنْ جالَ جَلْجالُ الجَلالَةِ جالِياً

    جَلائلَ قَلبي جُلْتُ للجُلْجُلِ الجَالِي

    And if majesty's clamor roams, unveiling

    my heart's great concerns, I roam toward the cleansing bell.

  16. فَنيتُ بكُمْ عن غيرِكُمْ وحَياتِكُمْ

    وقد شَطَحَ العُذَّالُ بالقيلِ والقَالِ

    I am annihilated in you, away from all others—by your lives!

    And the reproachers have raved with hearsay and gossip.

  17. أميلُ بكُمْ مَيْلِ الغُصونِ مع الصَّبا

    وفي ظلِّكُمْ لا زالَ حلَّي وتِرحَالِي

    I sway with you as branches sway with the east breeze;

    and may my dwelling and my travel always be in your shade.

  18. وقد ملَّ منِّي اللَّيلُ أقطَعُ ميلهُ

    بملَّةِ آهٍ من فَؤادٍ شَجٍ مَالِي

    Night has grown weary of me as I traverse its mile,

    with the embers of an 'Ah' from a sorrowful heart of mine.

  19. وتظهَرُ لي الأَشياءُ من كلِّ بترِزٍ

    لتُسلِيَني عنكُمْ وما أنا بالسَّالي

    And things appear to me from every [unclear word],

    to divert me from you, but I cannot forget.

  20. وأَنظِمَ فيكُمْ شِعرَ آياتِ حكمَةٍ

    يعطَّرِ منِّي نشرُها لهجَةَ التَّالي

    And about you I compose poetry, verses of wisdom,

    whose fragrance from me perfumes the reciter's speech.

  21. فأَنتُمْ حَياتي مِتُّ شوقاً لأَجلِكُمْ

    صِلوا لي حِبالي وارْحَموا موتَ إذْلالي

    For you are my life; I have died of longing for you.

    Join my cords for me, and pity my death through abasement.

  22. ولا تُبعِدوني عن حِبالِ خَيالِكُمْ

    فعندي شَميمُ التُّربِ من رُحْبِكُمْ غالِ

    And do not keep me far from the cords of your image;

    for to me the scent of soil from your spacious grounds is precious.

  23. تعلَّقَتِ الآمالُ من كلِّ طالِبٍ

    بشيءٍ وأنتُمْ سادَتي كلُّ آمَالِي

    The hopes of every seeker attach themselves

    to something; but you, my masters, are all my hopes.

  24. فأَمَّا لكُمْ قَلبي وروحي ومَسْمَعي

    وسِرِّي وإِجْهاري وكُلِّي وآمَالِي

    As for you, yours are my heart, my soul, and my hearing,

    my secret and my public avowal, my whole self and my hopes.

  25. نَعَمْ أَنا يا روحُ الحَوادِثِ مالُكُمْ

    أجلْ إنَّ ربَّ المالِ يحفظُ للمالِ

    Yes, O spirit of created things, I am your property;

    indeed, the owner of property watches over the property.

  26. صبَبْتُ دُموعي موجةً بعدَ موجةٍ

    عليكُمْ ولم يفقَهْ بها فارِغُ البَالِ

    I poured out my tears, wave after wave,

    over you, but one with an untroubled mind did not understand them.

  27. فإنْ أشرَحِ البَلوى تَهاجَمَ عُذَّلي

    وإنْ أَكتُمِ البَلوى تعَجَّبَ عُذَّالي

    If I explain my affliction, my reproachers converge;

    and if I conceal my affliction, my reproachers marvel.

  28. وعِندي أَنَّ الكَتْمَ أقوى بليَّةٍ

    إذا قيلَ هذا رَبُّ قلبٍ بهِمْ خالِ

    And I hold concealment to be the severest affliction,

    when it is said, 'This one has a heart devoid of them.'

  29. وَلِفْتُ الظِّباءَ الغيدَ في بَرِّ لَعْلَعٍ

    وهُدْبِ جُفونٍ جرَّدَتْ أَيَّ فَصَّالِ

    I grew fond of the graceful gazelles in the wilderness of La‘la‘,

    and of eyelid fringes that unsheathed every keen blade,

  30. ورِقَّةِ هاتيكَ الخُصورِ التي انْطَوَتْ

    على كلِّ معنًى لا يُكَيِّفُ بالقَالِ

    and the delicacy of those waists that enfolded

    every meaning that cannot be defined in speech.

  31. وسحرُ عُيونٍ حينَ يرمِشُ طرفُها

    تُريعُ قُلوبَ العاشِقينَ بزَلْزالِ

    And the magic of eyes, when their gaze blinks,

    terrifies lovers' hearts with an earthquake.

  32. تدَلُّلُ شِعري في هَواكُمْ تذلُّلٌ

    أَلا فابْصُروا يا سادَتي نقطَةَ الذَّالِ

    The coyness of my poetry in loving you is abasement;

    behold, my masters, the dot on the dhāl.

  33. وماضي سِقامي يا لَعَمْرِي مُضارِعٌ

    بأَمرٍ روى عن مبدئي خَبَرَ الحَالِ

    The past of my sickness—O, by my life!—is present,

    through a command that recounted, from my beginning, the news of my state.

  34. كأنَّ القَضايا من غَرامي عَقيمَةٌ

    نتيجَتُها ذُلِّي وأِيهانُ أَحْوالي

    As if the propositions of my passion were barren,

    their outcome is my abasement and the degradation of my states.

  35. وتاءٌ وباءٌ بل وواوٌ بسِرِّها

    فتَحْنا من الأَقْسامِ أَبوابَ إجْلالِ

    And a tā’, a bā’—nay, a wāw too—through their secret,

    we have opened doors of reverence through oaths.

  36. عَبيدُكُمْ ما خامَرَ الغَيْرُ قَلبَهُ

    بصدمَةِ إدْبارٍ وسكرَةِ إقْبالِ

    Your humble servant—no other has entered his heart,

    in the shock of withdrawal and the intoxication of approach.

  37. سَواءٌ على الحالَيْنِ عبدُ رِكابِكُمْ

    وحالي كما تَدْرونَهُ في الهَوَى حالِ

    In both states alike, I am a slave at your stirrups;

    and my state in love, as you know it, is adorned.

  38. فلا الجُنْدُ تُلْهيني استفَزَّ أَميرُها

    ولا البَلَدُ الغَصَّاصُ بالقومِ والوَالِي

    So no army distracts me, though its commander has roused it,

    nor the town teeming with people and the governor,

  39. ولا كلُّ عالٍ في الوُجودِ وسافِلٌ

    ولا كلُّ مَطْموسٍ وظاهِرُ أَشْكالِ

    nor anything high or low in existence,

    nor anything effaced or manifest in form.

  40. إليكُمْ لقد وجَّهْتُ يل قومُ وِجْهَتي

    وزكَّيْتُ في حُبِّي لكُمْ كلَّ أعْمَالِي

    Toward you, O people, I have indeed set my course,

    and in my love for you I have purified all my deeds.

  41. تصدَّقْتُ بالرُّوحِ العَزيزَةِ غالِطاً

    زَعَمْتُ بأَنَّ الرُّوحَ راحَتْ لكُمْ ما لي

    I gave my precious soul in charity, mistakenly;

    I supposed the soul that went to you was mine.

  42. أَجلْ نِيَّةُ الإنْسانِ خيرٌ له من الشُّ

    ؤنِ التي تأتي بأعمالِ أعْمالِ

    Yes, a person's intention is better for him than the af—

    —fairs that come with deeds upon deeds.

  43. نَوَيْنا لكُمْ صوْماً عن الكَوْنِ كلّهُ

    وأنتم لنا عيدٌ وقدرِكُمُ العالي

    We have intended, for you, a fast from all creation;

    and you are our feast—by your exalted rank!