1. No harm from the intercession of the aloof with his distance,
If the passionate justifies the alluring with his promise,
١. ما ضر من شفع الصدود ببعده
لو علل الكلف المشوق بوعده
2. Or if he heals him with a visit after determination,
So that the one who acted with distance towards his servant may see,
٢. أو لو شفاه بزورة بعد النوى
ليرى الذي فعل البعاد بعبده
3. A gazelle from the Turks, with an empty mind,
From a state filled with anguish in his heart,
٣. ظبي من الأتراك خال باله
من حال ملآن الفؤاد بوجده
4. Quenched from the water of youth when he walks,
The branches bend to the bending of his stature,
٤. ريان من ماء الشباب إذا مشى
تثني الغصون على تثني قده
5. I would not complain of the harshness of his heart,
If softness of his cheek restored it,
٥. ما كنت أشكو من قساوة قلبه
لو أنه أعدته رقة خده
6. I cry while coquetry makes him laugh from tenderness,
The coldness of his love’s healing in its coldness,
٦. أبكي ويضحكه التدلل عن نقا
برد شفاء محبه في برده
7. And the prince of beauty is my watcher while my heart from his supporters,
Is forever mine and his soldiers,
٧. وأمير حسن ناظري والقلب من
أعوانه أبداً علي وجنده
8. Knowing that a glance from him is strict,
Wrath, and not wary of where his limit falls,
٨. علماً بأن اللحظ منه صارم
عضب وما حذرا مواقع حده
9. If he visited me I would remove the seal of his approval,
I did not want a rose or his roses,
٩. لو زارني لفضضت ختم رضابه
ما بغيتي في ورده أو ورده
10. And I held back my palm in the expanse of his reach,
In his depths, and held it back from his help,
١٠. وأجلت كفي في مجال نطاقه
في غوره وكففتها عن نجده
11. They said he was ill, so I said perhaps,
It is in his eyelid or his waist or his promise,
١١. قالوا به سقم فقلت لعله
في جفنه أو خصره أو عهده
12. O you who deprived me of the sweetness of sleep, yet
I grieve over missing the imagination like missing him,
١٢. يا سالبي طيب الرقاد وإنما
أسفي علي فقد الخيال كفقده
13. If not for waiting for the ghost to knock in the darkness,
My teardrops would not flow questioning his return.
١٣. لولا انتظار الطيف يطرق في الطرى
ما راح دمعي سائلاً في رده