1. أَعِنِّى عَلَى بَرقٍ أُرِيكَ وَمِيضَهُ

    تُضِىء دُجُنَّاتِ الظَّلامِ لَوامِعُه

    Help me watch the lightning whose gleam I show you;

    its flashes illumine the depths of darkness.

  2. إِذا اكتَحَلَت عَينا مُحِبٍّ بِضَوئِهِ

    تَجافَت بِهِ حَتَّى الصَّبَاحِ مَضَاجِعُه

    When a lover’s eyes wear its light as kohl,

    his beds deny him rest until morning.

  3. قَعَدَتُ لهُ ذَاتَ العِشَاءِ أُشِيمُهُ

    وَأَنظُرُ مِن أَينَ استَقَلَّت مَطَالِعُه

    One evening I sat watching it,

    and looking to see from which quarter its flashes rose.

  4. وَباتَ وِسادِى ساعِداً قَلَّ لَحمُهُ

    عَلَى العَظمِ حتّى كادَ يَبدُو أَشاجِعُه

    And all night my pillow was a forearm, its flesh grown thin

    over the bone, till its sinews almost showed.