1. أما وَضياءِ وَجْهِكَ ذي الجمالِ

    وَقَدِّكَ في انعطاف واعتدالِ

    Indeed, by the radiance of your beautiful face,

    and your figure, bending and standing straight,

  2. وبالَخَفَرِ الذي قَد راق حُسْناً

    وفاقَ على الغزالةِ والغزالِ

    and by the bashfulness whose beauty has charmed

    and surpassed the sun and the gazelle,

  3. لقد أغرى عذوليَ ذا اشتِغالِ

    بِنارِ هوىً وقلباً ذا اشتعالِ

    my reproacher has indeed stirred one engrossed

    in passion’s fire, and a heart ablaze.

  4. كَأن جفونَ ذاتِ الخال فينا

    نِصالٌ ما تَمُلَ مِنَ النِّضالِ

    The beauty-marked woman’s eyelids seem, among us,

    arrowheads that never tire of archery.

  5. سَرَتْ عَجَلاً فَسَرَّتْ ثمَّ ساءَتْ

    وقالَ تَسَلّها واشٍ وَقالِ

    They sped in haste, bringing joy, then pain.

    And a tale-bearer and a hater said, “Forget her.”

  6. هَبوا أنّي أقولُ سَلَوْتُ سَلْمى

    تَعِلاتٍ بذاكَ وَلَستُ سالي

    Suppose I say, “I have forgotten Salma,”

    merely consoling myself with that—I have not forgotten.

  7. أما دَمعي على وجدي دليلٌ

    يسيل على غَزاليَ كالغزالِ

    Are not my tears proof of my passion,

    streaming for my gazelle, swift as a gazelle?

  8. ألا يا ضرَّةَ القَمَرَيْن جودي

    عليَّ وَلَو بِطَيْفٍ مِن خيالِ

    Ah, rival of the sun and moon, be generous

    to me, even with a phantom from a dream.

  9. فإن أكُ مُعسِراً فأخو رجاءٍ

    أُبَلّغُهُ قَريباً من مَعالي

    If I am poor, I am still a man of hope,

    which I shall soon attain through Ma‘ali.

  10. وجادَ على عِيالي بالعَطايا

    إلى أنْ كِدْتُ أُوهبُهُ عيالي

    And he lavished gifts upon my household,

    until I nearly gave him my wife.

  11. وما ليَ غيرُها إنْ كانَ يرضى

    وحاشاهُ وَنَزِّهَ عَنْ مَقالي

    And I have nothing but her, if he would accept—

    far be it from him! Keep him above such words of mine.

  12. حُرِمتُ بِها الحرامَ وكانَ أشهى

    على أنّي حَلالي ما حلالي

    Because of her I was denied illicit pleasure, though it was sweeter;

    yet my lawful wife—what a lawful wife I have!

  13. تُنافِرني فأبكي مِن أذاها

    وأذكرُ طيبَ أَيَامِ البدالِ

    She quarrels with me, so I weep at her abuse,

    and recall the sweetness of the days of swapping.

  14. وعرسٌ مرضِعٌ فأرى نَحيلا

    له جيدٌ أرقُّ مِن الخلالِ

    And a nursing wife: I behold a scrawny child

    whose neck is thinner than a toothpick.

  15. تُحَمّلنيهِ لا حَمَلَتْهُ كَيمْا

    أُرَقِّصُه بأنواعِ الخَيال

    She makes me carry him—if only she had never borne him!—so that

    I make him dance with all kinds of shadow-play.

  16. فيحبو ثم يسلح من قريب

    على تِلكَ المفارشِ والزلال

    So he crawls, then shits close by

    on those bedclothes and rugs.

  17. وَيبكي ثُمَّ تَعْلَقُ بي يَداهُ

    فيا للهِ ما يَلقى سبالي

    And he cries; then both his hands cling to me—

    O God, what my mustache suffers!

  18. وَزَوْجٌ حينَ أَغشاها كأنّي

    بِلا أقومُ إلى البدالِ

    And a wife: when I mount her, it is as though I

    rise, without ..., to swap.

  19. أُعوِّدُها بِقِرْدٍ إنْ نَضَحّتُ

    لتقليهِ على السطح المذالِ

    I accustom her to a monkey if I spurt,

    so she may fry it on the shabby rooftop.

  20. إذا أضطَجَعَتْ تغنّتْ من سعالٍ

    وأُبصِرُها على صور السّعالي

    When she lies down, she sings with a cough,

    and I see her in the forms of female ghouls,

  21. بِقدٍّ لاصق بالأرض قصراً

    وأنفٍ من السّماءِ عَليَّ عالي

    with a figure clinging to the ground from shortness,

    and a nose towering over me from the sky.

  22. تقاسَمْنا وكانَ لها بِحَقٍّ

    قَفايَ وكانَ أسفلُ خُفِّها لي

    We divided our shares: hers, by right, was

    the back of my neck; mine was the sole of her slipper.