للجفن من حب ليلى ما يؤرقه

للجفن من حب ليلى ما يؤرقه

وجدا وللقلب منها ما يمزقه

وجدا وللقلب منها ما يمزقه

Love of Layla gives the eyelid what keeps it sleepless,

My eyelids are kept awake by love for Laila,

With yearning; and from her the heart has what tears it apart.

And my heart is torn asunder by her.

رثى الغرام له من فرط شقوته

رثى الغرام له من فرط شقوته

ورق نجم الدجى مما يؤرقه

ورق نجم الدجى مما يؤرقه

Passion pitied him for his overwhelming misery,

Passion laments for him because of his extreme misfortune,

And the star of night was moved by what keeps him sleepless.

And the bright star of dusk troubles him with what keeps him awake.

وناح في الدوح ورق من تأوهه

وناح في الدوح ورق من تأوهه

وسامر العابد الزاكي تشوقه

وسامر العابد الزاكي تشوقه

And gray doves wailed in the great trees at his sighing,

And he moans in anguish, and the leaves of his sighing tremble,

And his longing kept the pure worshipper company at night.

And the devout and pure worshipper yearns for him.

ورنح البان شعر حسبه ألم

ورنح البان شعر حسبه ألم

مما يعنيه من ليلى ويقلقه

مما يعنيه من ليلى ويقلقه

And verse swayed the bān trees; pain alone sufficed for it,

The moist branches weep tears that pain him

From what preoccupies him about Layla and troubles him.

With what worries and disturbs him about Laila.

تخير الحب معناه وهذبه

تخير الحب معناه وهذبه

حسن فلا غرو إن أغرى تألقه

حسن فلا غرو إن أغرى تألقه

Love chose its meaning, and it was refined

Love chose its meaning and refined it—

By beauty—no wonder if its radiance proved alluring.

No wonder its brilliance is tempting!

أحببت من لا يرى في الحب مكرمة

أحببت من لا يرى في الحب مكرمة

ولا يحس به لو مات شيقه

ولا يحس به لو مات شيقه

I loved one who sees no virtue in love,

I loved one who sees no honor in love,

Nor feels it, even if his yearning lover were to die,

Who, were his passionate desire to die, would not care,

ولا يبالي بآلام تعذبه

ولا يبالي بآلام تعذبه

فكيف يطفئ نيرانا تحرقه

فكيف يطفئ نيرانا تحرقه

And cares nothing for pains that torment him—

And is not concerned by the torments that torture him.

How, then, can he quench fires that burn him?

So how can he extinguish the fires that consume him?

يهوى قريضي ولا يهوى مقايضتي

يهوى قريضي ولا يهوى مقايضتي

وفيه أودعت ما يهوى تذوقه

وفيه أودعت ما يهوى تذوقه

He loves my verse, but not an exchange with me,

My beloved is indifferent, he does not requite my love,

And in it I placed what he loves to savor.

Yet in him I placed what he loves to taste.

جنت عيوني على قلبي وما علمت

جنت عيوني على قلبي وما علمت

عليه مما جنت ماذا يطوقه

عليه مما جنت ماذا يطوقه

My eyes wronged my heart, and did not know

My eyes tricked my heart, and I did not know

What would encircle it through their wrongdoing against it.

What they tricked it with, how much it can endure.

يطوق القلب هم لا يفارقه

يطوق القلب هم لا يفارقه

ويجمع الصدغم لا يفرقه

ويجمع الصدغم لا يفرقه

Sorrow encircles the heart, never leaving it,

Worry besieges the heart and does not leave it,

And rejection gathers sorrow, never dispersing it.

And sorrow gathers and does not divide it.