1. يا رَحمَةَ اللَهِ حُلّي في مَنازِلِنا

    وَجاوِرينا فَدَتكِ النَفسُ مِن جارِ

    O mercy of God, dwell in our homes,

    And be our neighbor—may my soul ransom a neighbor like you!

  2. أَنتِ المُنى وَحَديثُ النَفسِ خالِيَةً

    وَمُنتَهى حاجَتي القُصوى وَأَوطاري

    You are my wishes and my soul's discourse in solitude,

    And the ultimate goal of my deepest need and my desires.

  3. أَرضى بِقُربِكِ مِن مالٍ وَمِن سَكَنٍ

    وَمِن نَعيمي وَمِن رَهطي وَزُوّاري

    I am happier with your nearness than with wealth or a home,

    Or with my pleasures, my clan, or my visitors.

  4. وَقُلتُ لَمّا رَأَيتُ الحُبَّ يَتبَعُني

    وَأَنتِ في راحَةٍ مِن هَمِّيَ الساري

    And I said, when I saw love pursuing me,

    While you were at ease, free of my night-roaming grief:

  5. لَيتَ المَنايا دَعَتني فَاِستَجَبتُ لَها

    وَكُنتُ مِمَّن تُواتي دارُها داري

    If only death had called me, and I had answered it,

    And I had been one whose dwelling lay beside hers.

  6. لَولا هَواكِ أَبَت نَفسي مَناعِمَها

    مِن كُلِّ مَخطوطَةِ المَتنَينِ مِعطارِ

    Were it not for love of you, my soul would spurn its delights,

    From every slender-flanked, richly perfumed woman,

  7. حَوراءُ كَالريمِ أَعلاها إِذا خَرَجَت

    تَهتَزُّ في كَفَلٍ كَالدِعصِ مَرمارِ

    Dark-eyed, whose upper body is like a white gazelle's when she steps out,

    Swaying upon a quivering rump like a mound of sand.

  8. يا رَحمَةَ اللَهِ حُلّي غَيرَ صاغِرَةٍ

    عَلى حَزينٍ بِدارِ الحُبِّ مَرّارِ

    O mercy of God, come dwell without abasement

    With a sorrowing man who often visits love's abode.

  9. قَد رابَهُ مِن صَديقٍ كانَ يَأمَلُهُ

    صُبحٌ وَبادَرَهُ قَومٌ بِإِنكارِ

    What troubled him, from a friend in whom he had hoped,

    Was a dawn; and a group hastened to reject him.

  10. كَأَنَّني مِن عَناءِ الحُبِّ في سِنَةٍ

    مُطَرَّحٌ بَينَ إِقبالٍ وَإِدبارِ

    It is as though, from love's torment, I were drowsing,

    Cast aside between approach and withdrawal.

  11. إِنّي بِما اِحتَمَلَت عَيني حَوائِجَكُم

    وَاِستَحلَتِ العَينُ مِنّي دَمعُها جاري

    Indeed, because my eye has borne your needs,

    And found them sweet, its tears keep streaming from me.

  12. أَبيتُ وَالحِبُّ في سَمعي وَفي بَصَري

    وَفي لِساني وَأَطرافي وَآثاري

    I spend the night with my beloved in my hearing and my sight,

    And on my tongue, in my limbs, and in the traces I leave.

  13. كَأَنَّما بِتُّ مَقروناً بِساحِرَةٍ

    كانَت عَلى القَلبِ تَمريهِ بِأظفارِ

    As though I had spent the night bound to a sorceress,

    Who kept milking my heart with her fingernails.

  14. أَهيمُ مِمّا بِقَلبي مِن صَبابَتِهِ

    وَبِالمدامِعِ مِن شَوقي وَتَذكاري

    I wander distraught from the ardor within my heart,

    And in tears, from my longing and remembrance.

  15. لا أَذكُرُ الجَنَّةَ المَغبوطَ ساكِنُها

    وَقَد نَسيتُ وَعيدَ اللَهِ بِالنارِ

    I do not think of Paradise, whose dwellers are envied,

    And I have forgotten God's threat of the Fire.

  16. كَأَنَّني بِكِ إِذا تَمشينَ راضِيَةً

    أَمشي عَلى جَمرَةٍ أَو حَدِّ مِنشارِ

    Because of you, when you walk contentedly, it is as though

    I walk on a live coal or the edge of a saw.

  17. أَشُكُّ في الناسِ ما قالَت وَما صَنَعَت

    وَلا أَشُكُّ بِسُقمٍ داخِلٍ بارِ

    I doubt what people have said and what they have done,

    Yet I have no doubt of the wasting sickness within.

  18. حَتّى مَتى أَنا مَشغولٌ بِحُبِّكُمُ

    مِن شِدَّةِ الحُبِّ أَو أَهذي بِأَشعاري

    How long must I remain absorbed in love for you,

    From love's intensity—or rave in my verses?

  19. كَأَنَّ نَفسي بِما زادَت وَما نَقَصَت

    شَيءٌ سِوى النَفسِ لَم يُخلَق بِمِقدارِ

    As though my soul, in all it gains and loses,

    Were something other than a soul, not fashioned to a measure;

  20. إِلّا تَغَوُّلَ أَمثالٍ تَكُن مَثَلاً

    لِكُلِّ مُستَمِعٍ مِنكُم وَنَظّارِ

    Only shape-shifting likenesses that become a byword

    For every listener among you and every watcher.

  21. وَمَعشَرٍ جَعَلوا حُبّي زِيارَتَكُم

    عاراً عَليَّ وَما بِالحُبِّ مِن عارِ

    And a group made my love of visiting you

    A disgrace to me—yet there is no disgrace in love.

  22. قالوا ذَواتُ الغِنى خَيرٌ فَقُلتُ لَهُم

    بِرَحمَةِ اللَهِ أَستَغني وَأَوطاري

    They said, “Women of wealth are better”; I said to them:

    “God's mercy is wealth enough for me and my desires.”

  23. أَغنَيتُهُم بِمَزيدٍ في مَساءَتِهِم

    وَكُنتُ فيما اِبتَغَوا مِن حُبِّ إِقصارى

    I enriched them with still greater vexation,

    And, in their wish that I should desist, I was

  24. كَقائِلٍ إِذ لَحى في الخَمرِ عاذِلُهُ

    لَأَشرَبَنَّ وَلَو كَأساً بِدينارِ

    Like one who said, when his critic reproached him over wine:

    “I shall surely drink, even at a dinar a cup!”