هن البدور النيرات سوافر

هن البدور النيرات سوافر

تهتز في كثب بهن غصون

تهتز في كثب بهن غصون

They are radiant full moons, unveiled;

They are radiant full moons, unveiled;

branches sway with them among the dunes.

branches sway amid their sand dunes.

البرء ما أهدت لهن مباسم

البرء ما أهدت لهن مباسم

والسقم ما بعثت لهن عيون

والسقم ما بعثت لهن عيون

What their smiles bestow is healing,

Healing is what their smiling mouths bestow,

and what their eyes send forth is sickness.

and sickness what their eyes send forth.

ولقد حمى عن مقلتي كراهما

ولقد حمى عن مقلتي كراهما

ورق لهن عن الأراك حنين

ورق لهن عن الأراك حنين

Indeed, sleep was barred from my two eyes,

And indeed, slumber was kept from my two eyes

and from the arak trees rose a tender yearning for them.

by gray doves whose plaintive cooing came from the arak trees,

في ليلة ليس الحداد دجاؤها

في ليلة ليس الحداد دجاؤها

فكأنما هي راهب محزون

فكأنما هي راهب محزون

On a night whose darkness was no mourning garb,

on a night whose darkness is not mourning garb,

as though it were a grieving monk.

as though it were a grief-stricken monk.

قد رصعت زهر النجوم سماءها

قد رصعت زهر النجوم سماءها

فكأنما هي لؤلؤ موضون

فكأنما هي لؤلؤ موضون

Star-blossoms had studded its sky,

The bright stars have studded its sky,

as though they were pearls close-strung.

as though they were pearls closely strung.

وكأنما الفلك المدار على الدجا

وكأنما الفلك المدار على الدجا

بحر أحاط بها وهن سفين

بحر أحاط بها وهن سفين

And as though the sphere revolving over the darkness

And as though the celestial sphere revolving over the darkness

were a sea enclosing the stars, while they were ships.

were a sea encircling them, and they were ships.