سلام مشوق ما خلا منك خاطره

ولم ينس عهداً بالحمى أنت ذاكره

Greetings from a yearning lover whose mind has never been without you,

and who has not forgotten a pledge in the preserve that you remember.

أما وذمام للمودة بيننا

لعذري بث ضقن عنه مضامره

Indeed, by the bond of affection between us,

my excuse is anguish too great for its hidden recesses.

بعين الهوى أن لا تناصحني الهوى

وإني فتى لا تستبان سرائره

Love's eye sees that you are not sincere with me in love,

though I am a youth whose secrets cannot be discerned.

أصح هوى من ليس يصحو من الهوى

ولا صح من داء دفين يخامره

Truest in love is one who never sobers from passion,

nor has recovered from the hidden sickness that possesses him.

وكم ليلة قضيتها بعد نأيكم

ومالي سوى الذكرى نديم أسامره

And how many a night I spent after your departure,

with no companion but remembrance for my nightly conversation.

أعلل في لقياك نفسي تعلة

أيا نفس لهيبي سوف تأتي بشائره

I soothe my soul with the hope of meeting you:

O soul, my flame's glad tidings will yet arrive.

وناهدت مرت وما طيش بها

تلفت مثل الظبي يزجره ذاعره

And a full-breasted woman passed, with no flightiness in her,

looking about like a gazelle driven on by one who frightens it.

تهادى وتربيها فقلت لصاحبي

أسرح الحمى هذا وهذي جآذره

She swayed along with her two age-mates; I said to my companion:

Is this the preserve's grazing herd, and these its gazelle fawns?

وملآنة الأعطاف مخطفة الحشى

ينم بمسراها من الثوب عاطره

And a full-hipped woman, slender-waisted,

whose garment's fragrance betrays her passage by night.

نظرت إليها نظرة حين أسفرت

فعدت وإني خاسئى الطرف حاسره

I glanced at her when she unveiled her face,

then turned back, my gaze humbled and exhausted.

تقول وزهو الحسن يقضي بقولها

قتيلي لا يدري ولم ينج ثائره

She says—and beauty's pride upholds her words—

My victim does not know, nor has his avenger escaped.

ولا رحمة عندي على ذي هوى بنا

فيمنع إلا ما تمنع ناظره

And I have no mercy on anyone in love with us;

he is spared only insofar as his gaze holds back.

فقلت بملوي الجعود تبرقعي

فكم كبد شقت عليك مرائره

So I said: Veil your face with your coiled locks,

for how many a liver's gall has been torn open for you!

وإن سفور الوجه مجلبة الهوى

وإن الهوى ورد تذم مصادره

And unveiling the face surely invites passion,

and passion is a watering place whose ways of return are condemned.

وصون الحيا لا شك للوجه حلية

يتم به من فارط الحسن ساتره

And preserving modesty is surely an adornment to the face;

through it, its veil of surpassing beauty is made complete.