ما لهم أنكروا سواداً بخدي

ما لهم أنكروا سواداً بخدي

ه ولا ينكرون ورد الغصون

ه ولا ينكرون ورد الغصون

What ails them, that they condemn the darkness on his cheeks,

Why do they deny the darkness of my cheek

yet do not condemn the roses on the boughs?

When they do not deny the rose's blush upon the branches?

إن يكن عيب خده بدد الشع

إن يكن عيب خده بدد الشع

ر فعيب العيون شعر الجفون

ر فعيب العيون شعر الجفون

If scattered hairs are a flaw upon his cheek,

If the cheek's darkness is a blemish that corrupts poetry

then the eyes' flaw is the hair of the eyelids.

Then the eyes' blemish is the lashes' hair