أراك سخي الدمع طال بك الأمر

ابرّح فيك الحب ام نفد الصبر

I see you lavish with tears; your ordeal has lasted long.

Has love tormented you, or has your patience run out?

أبحت الذي قد كان عندي مكنما

واعلنت وجدا فيك ام خفي السر

Have you revealed what I had kept concealed,

And declared the longing within you—or is the secret hidden?

نعم انني في الحب ميت صبابة

فاطوي غراما ثم ينشره الفكر

Yes, in love I am dead of yearning;

So I fold my passion away, then thought unfolds it.

يهيجني ذكر الربوع وأهلها

وكل اخي عشق يهيجه الذكر

Remembrance of the dwellings and their people stirs me,

And every brother of passion is stirred by remembrance.

تذكرت أزمان الأحبة واللقا

ليال وأيام بوصلهم قصر

I remembered the times of loved ones and reunion,

Nights and days made brief by union with them.

ليال قطعناها ونحن بمجلس

تجلى على بدر السماء لنا بدر

Nights we spent together in a gathering,

A full moon appeared to us, outshining heaven's moon:

من الخود هيفاء القوام غريرة

تحلت بها الجوزاء وابتهج النسر

A fair young maiden, slender of figure and innocent.

Al-Jawza adorned itself with her, and the Eagle rejoiced.

وقد ظهر المريخ في سيف لحظها

وقابلت الأقمار فانبهم الأمر

And Mars appeared in the sword of her glance,

And she faced the moons, leaving the matter obscure.

ومن نور ثدييها النجوم قد اكتست

ومن سحر جفنيها القد علم السحر

And the stars clothed themselves in the light of her breasts,

And from the magic of her eyelids, her figure learned enchantment.

كلفت بها حبا وشط مزارنا

وكم منع العشاق من لذة دهر

I was passionately enamored of her, and our meeting place lay far away.

And how often has Time denied lovers pleasure!

رضغت هواها ثم صرت فطيمها

فبدء الهوى حلو واخره مرّ

I suckled her love, then became her weanling;

For passion's beginning is sweet, and its end bitter.

ويوما على وصل المشوق تعذرت

فلذّ لنا سقيم ولذ لها هجر

And one day she excused herself from union with the yearning lover;

So sickness was sweet to us, and estrangement sweet to her.

لقد كنت في رحب قبيل غرامها

فرحت بها مضنى وضاق بي البر

I had lived in spacious ease just before loving her,

Then through her I became wasted, and the earth closed in on me.

الا رب يوم كان لي فيه موعد

بصدق اجتماع الشمل وارتفع العذر

Ah, many a day I had a tryst appointed,

For a true reunion, with the excuse removed.

فجئت وقد غاب المنيران والسهى

وقد ظهرت في الافق انجمه الزهر

So I came when the sun and moon and al-Suha had set,

And on the horizon its radiant stars had appeared.

ولما توافينا وقد غاب كاشح

ونام رقيب واطمأن بنا الخدر

And when we met, after a spiteful enemy had gone,

And a watcher slept, and the secluded chamber grew peaceful with us,

أماطت عن الوجه المنير لثامه

فاشرق منه البدر اذ بسم الثغر

She removed its veil from her radiant face,

And the full moon shone from it when her mouth smiled.

تذود عن المرجان في صحن خدها

حياءا بأجفان لها النهي والأمر

She guards the coral in the expanse of her cheek,

Modestly, with eyelids that forbid and command.

وازرت قضيب البان لما تمايلت

بأعطافها الحسنا يرنحها سكر

And she supported the ban-tree bough as she swayed

With her lovely curves, intoxication making her reel.

واعجب مما في الجبين رايته

ظلاما وصبحا لاح بينهما بدر

And marvel at what I saw upon her brow:

Darkness and dawn, with a full moon shining between them.

فلولا ظلام الشعر لاح بنا الضيا

ولولا ضياء الوجه جنّ بنا الشعر

But for the darkness of her hair, radiance would have shone upon us;

And but for her face's radiance, her hair would have shrouded us.

فباتت تعاطيني المدام صبابة

ومن ثغرها الألمى المدامة والخمر

So she spent the night offering me wine in ardent longing,

And from her dusky-lipped mouth came the vintage and the wine.

تدير الحميا بالظلام على سنا

كؤوس عقيق قد تضمنها الدر

She passes potent wine around in darkness, by the gleam

Of agate goblets enclosed by pearls.

تصافحني وجدا فيعطفني الهوى

واضممها شوقا فينعطف الخصر

She clasps my hand in passion, and love bends me toward her;

And I embrace her in longing, and her waist bends.

وما راعني إلّا الصباح مفاجئا

وقد ذهب الديجور مذ طلع الفجر

And nothing startled me but morning, arriving suddenly,

And the deep darkness had vanished since dawn rose.

ولما اعتنقنا للتودع وانقضت

لويلتنا رحنا وادمعنا بحر

And when we embraced in farewell, and there ended

Our little night, we departed, our tears a sea.

وقمت عليلا بالغرام مقيّدا

واودعتها قلبا تلظى به الجمر

And I rose ailing, fettered by passion,

And I entrusted her with a heart in which the embers blazed.