1. يا طولَ هَذا اللَيلِ لَم أَرقُدِ

    إِلّا رُقادَ الوَصِبِ الأَرمَدِ

    Oh, how long this night! I have not slept

    except the sleep of a sick man with inflamed eyes.

  2. مِثلَ اِكتِحالِ العَينِ نَومي بِهِ

    بَل دونَ كُحلِ العَينِ بِالمِروَدِ

    My sleep in it lasts only as long as applying kohl to an eye,

    nay, less than lining the eye with a kohl-stick.

  3. أُراقِبُ الصُبحَ كَأَنّي اِمرُؤٌ

    مِن راحَةٍ فيهِ عَلى مَوعِدِ

    I watch for dawn as though I were a man

    with an appointment for rest at its coming.

  4. بِتُّ إِلى أَن راعَني ضَوؤُهُ

    وَخَلفَ سِنّي إِصبَعي مِن يَدي

    I kept vigil until its light startled me,

    and a finger of my hand was behind my tooth,

  5. تَعَجُّباً مِمّا دَهاني بِهِ

    أَقرَبُ جيراني لِذي الأَبعَدِ

    in astonishment at what was inflicted on me by

    my nearest neighbor, concerning that faraway one.

  6. رَقّى إِلَيها كَذِباً لَم يَكُن

    مِنّي عَلى مَمشىً وَلا مَقعَدِ

    He carried to her lies that had never come

    from me, while walking or sitting,

  7. حَتّى أَدَلَّت بَل ثَنى لُبَّها

    عَنّي مَقالُ الكاشِحِ المُفسِدِ

    until she grew haughty—indeed, her mind was turned

    away from me by the spiteful mischief-maker's words.

  8. في الصَدرِ مِمّا بُلِّغَت حِبَّتي

    مِثلُ شِهابِ القابِسِ الموقِدِ

    In my breast, from what my beloved was told,

    is a flame like a firebrand fetched to kindle a fire.

  9. إِن بَرَدَت عَن كَبِدي لَوعَةٌ

    طالَت عَلى القَلبِ فَلَم تَبرُدِ

    If a burning pang cools in my liver,

    it lingers upon my heart and does not cool.

  10. بَل أَيُّها الواشي بِها عِندَنا

    لا زِلتَ لا تُعجِبُني فَاِزدَدِ

    But you who tell tales about her in our presence,

    may you never cease displeasing me—do still more!

  11. أَنتَ لَعَمرُ اللَهِ أَوجَدتَها

    عَلَيَّ حَتّى كَدَّرَت مَورِدي

    By God's life, you have made her angry

    against me, until she muddied my watering-place.

  12. وَكُنتُ أَسباني بِها صاحِباً

    يَعتَلُّ في الأَمرِ وَلَم يوجَدِ

    And I had been captivated through her by a companion

    who made excuses about the matter and could not be found.

  13. لَم تَرَ مِثلي مُغرَماً بِالهَوى

    وَمِثلَ عَبّادَةَ لَم تَقصِدِ

    You have never seen one like me enthralled by love,

    nor have you sought one like ʿAbbādah.

  14. تَبرو لَدى هَجري وَأَدوى بِهِ

    فَلَستُ بِالحَيِّ وَلا بِالرَدي

    She recovers during my estrangement, while I grow sicker from it;

    so I am neither living nor dead,

  15. لَكِنَّني مِثلُ سَبيلِهِما

    مِثلُ سَليمِ الحَيَّةِ الأَسوَدِ

    but I am as though on the path between the two,

    like one bitten by a black snake.

  16. شَتّانَ ذا مِنها وَإِرسالَها

    أَدالِجٌ أَنتَ وَلَم تَعهَدِ

    How different this conduct of hers is from her message:

    Are you traveling by night without saying farewell?

  17. غَداةَ زُمَّت إِبلي غُدوَةً

    وَالقَومُ مِن باكٍ وَمِن مُسعِدِ

    That morning, when my camels were haltered at dawn,

    some people wept and others shared their grief.

  18. فَقُلتُ إِن آبوا فَأَنتِ الهَوى

    وَإِن أَرُح مِنكِ فَلا تَبعُدِ

    So I said: If they return, you are my love;

    and if I depart from you, do not grow distant.

  19. يا عَبدَ لا تَنسَي فَلَم أَنسَهُ

    مَمشايَ بَينَ المَسجِدِ المُبتَدي

    O ʿAbd, do not forget—for I have not forgotten—

    my walk within the mosque, when I was a beginner,

  20. يَومَ عُبَيدُ اللَهَ كَالمُعتَدي

    عَلَيَّ في حُبِّكِ أَو مُعتَدي

    the day ʿUbayd Allāh was like an aggressor

    against me over my love for you—or truly was one.

  21. يَقولُ إِذ أَبصَرَني مُقبِلاً

    في القَومِ مُعتَمّاً وَلَم أَرتَدِ

    He said, when he saw me approaching

    among the people, turbaned but without a cloak,

  22. لِفارِغٍ مِمّا بِهِ شِغلُهُ

    لَم يَشجَ بِالحُبِّ وَلَم يَشهَدِ

    to someone free of the care that engrossed him,

    ungrieved by love and never witness to it—

  23. لَمّا رَآهُ شَهِدَت عَينُهُ

    مُشَوَّهَ اللَبسَةِ في المَشهَدِ

    when he saw him, his eye beheld

    one disheveled in dress at the gathering:

  24. هَذي الَّتي دَلَّهَهُ حُبُّها

    وَكانَ حيناً مِن حَصى المَسجِدِ

    This is she whose love bewildered him,

    though for a time he was among the mosque's pebbles.

  25. فَقُلتُ يا صاحِ بِها حَيِّني

    كِلني لِما بي لَستُ بِالمُرشَدِ

    So I said: Friend, greet me with her name;

    leave me to my plight; I am not one to be guided.

  26. كُنتُ كَما قُلتَ مِنَ اَبنائِهِ

    وَفِتنَتي عَبدَةُ بِالمَرصَدِ

    I was, as you said, one of its sons,

    while my temptation, ʿAbdah, lay in wait.

  27. بَينا كَذا إِذ بَرَقَت بَرقَةً

    بَينَ رِداءِ الخَزِّ وَالمِجسَدِ

    As I was thus, she suddenly flashed a flash

    between a silk-wool cloak and her undergarment,

  28. بَيضاءُ حُسناً أُشرِبَت صُفرَةً

    تَهتَزُّ في غُصنِ الصِبى الأَغيَدِ

    fair-skinned and lovely, suffused with a yellow tint,

    swaying upon the supple bough of youth.

  29. تَحسُدُها الجاراتُ مِن حُسنِها

    وَمِثلُ عَبّادَةَ فَليُحسَدِ

    Her neighbors envy her for her beauty,

    and let one like ʿAbbādah be envied!

  30. يَحسُدنَ مِنها قَصَباً مالِئاً

    لِلقُلبِ وَالخَلخالِ وَالمِعضَدِ

    They envy her limbs, which fill

    her bracelet, anklet, and armlet.

  31. وَالدُرُّ وَالياقوتُ يَحسُدنَها

    مُناطَةً في الأَوضَحِ الأَجيَدِ

    And they envy her the pearls and rubies

    hung upon her fair, long neck,

  32. وَمَضحَكاً مِنها كَما أَومَضَت

    صَيفِيَّةُ المُزنِ وَلَم تُرعِدِ

    and her smiling mouth, like the flash

    of a summer raincloud that does not thunder,

  33. وَأَنَّها حَوراءُ مَكحولَةٌ

    غانِيَةٌ تَغنى عَنِ الإِثمِدِ

    and that her eyes are dark against bright whites, kohl-lined,

    a beauty who needs no antimony kohl.

  34. يَحسُدنَها ذاكَ إِلى صورَةٍ

    قامَت بِها عِندي وَلَم تَقعُدِ

    They envy her all that, and a form

    by which she stood high in my esteem and never sat low.

  35. لا عَيبَ فيها غَيرَ تَأخيرِها

    كُلَّ صَباحٍ وَعدَنا في غَدِ

    She has no fault save her postponing,

    each morning, our promised meeting until tomorrow.