ومَيَّالة العِطْفَيْنِ غَرْثانَةُ الحَشى

ومَيَّالة العِطْفَيْنِ غَرْثانَةُ الحَشى

فلم تدرِ أنّي في هواها أُنَغَّصُّ

فلم تدرِ أنّي في هواها أُنَغَّصُّ

And she sways through both flanks, her belly hunger-slender—

And she of swaying flanks, slender of waist,

yet she does not know that love of her torments me.

did not know that I am tormented by my love for her.

أجودُ بروحي للقنا في وِدادِها

أجودُ بروحي للقنا في وِدادِها

ولو بَخُلَتْ وَصْلاً عليَّ وتَحْرِصُ

ولو بَخُلَتْ وَصْلاً عليَّ وتَحْرِصُ

For love of her, I freely offer my soul to the spears,

I give my life freely to the spears for love of her,

though she begrudge me union and jealously withhold it.

even if she begrudges me union and is covetous.

أرَخص نفسي في هواها وأدْمُعي

أرَخص نفسي في هواها وأدْمُعي

وما عُوِّدَتْ قبلَ العَلاقةِ تَرّخُصُ

وما عُوِّدَتْ قبلَ العَلاقةِ تَرّخُصُ

I count my life and tears as nothing in my love for her,

I hold my life and my tears cheap for love of her,

though before this bond my soul was never taught to cheapen itself.

though before this attachment they were not accustomed to being held cheap.

فَشَري الهوى أرْي وعذب أجاجُهُ

فَشَري الهوى أرْي وعذب أجاجُهُ

وخُسران أهليه لَهُم فيهِ مَخْلَصُ

وخُسران أهليه لَهُم فيهِ مَخْلَصُ

For love’s bitter is honey, while its sweet is brine;

For love’s colocynth is honey, and its brine is sweet,

and its devotees’ ruin is, within it, their deliverance.

and in it its lovers’ loss is their deliverance.

أمالئةَ الحجلين أن وِدادَكُم

أمالئةَ الحجلين أن وِدادَكُم

تَشَبّكَ قلبي فيه لا يتخلصُ

تَشَبّكَ قلبي فيه لا يتخلصُ

O you whose full calves fill both anklets, surely your love

O you who fill both anklets, indeed, your love—

has ensnared my heart in it; it cannot break free.

my heart is entangled in it and cannot break free.