1. فؤادي على حُكْمِ الغرامِ خَفوقُ

    إذا همَّ أنْ يَسْلو فليْسَ يُطيقُ

    My heart throbs under the sway of passion.

    Whenever it resolves to forget, it cannot.

  2. ومهْما همَى دمْعي ليَنقَعَ غلّتي

    تأجّجَ ما بيْنَ الضّلوعِ حَريقُ

    And however much my tears flow to quench my burning thirst,

    A fire blazes in the space between my ribs.

  3. خَليليَّ هلْ أسْلو عن الحُبّ ساعةً

    وقد صدّ خِلٌّ للفُؤادِ صَديقُ

    My two friends, can I forget love for an hour,

    When a beloved, a friend to my heart, has turned away?

  4. سَقاني كُؤوسَ الحُبّ حتّى أمالَني

    وشارِبُ كاسِ الحبِّ كيفَ يُفيقُ

    He gave me cups of love to drink until he made me sway;

    And how can the drinker of love's cup sober up?

  5. قَسا قلبُهُ لكِن علَى كُلّ عاشقٍ

    فوا عَجَباً والخصْرُ منْهُ رَقيقُ

    His heart is hard, however, toward every lover;

    So how strange, when his waist is so delicate!

  6. وقلْبي عليْهِ كيفَ شاءَ جمالُهُ

    وإن قلّبَتْهُ الحادِثاتُ شَفيقُ

    And my heart, toward him as his beauty wills,

    Is tender, though life's vicissitudes toss it about.

  7. فَيا ليْتَهُ يوماً يجودُ بوصْلِهِ

    فإنّيَ في بحْرِ الغرامِ غَريقُ

    Ah, if only he would one day grant me union with him!

    For I am drowning in the sea of passion.

  8. ولا عجَبٌ فالرّوضُ بعْدَ ذُبولِه

    إذا جادَهُ الغيْثُ الهَتونُ يَروقُ

    And no wonder: the garden, after withering,

    Grows lovely when the pouring rain waters it.

  9. أنادي إذا جنّ الظّلامُ بهِ أما

    لشَمْسِ الرّضَى بعْدَ الغُروبِ شروقُ

    I call out when darkness gathers around him: is there not

    A sunrise for the sun of favor after its setting?

  10. وإن لمْ تجُدْ بالوصْلِ صبْريَ ذاهِبٌ

    وصدْريَ عنْ حمْلِ الغَرامِ يَضيقُ

    And if you do not grant union, my patience is gone;

    And my breast grows too tight to bear passion.

  11. ترَفّق فَما لي غيْرَ دمْعيَ مُنجِدٌ

    وسُهْدي أنيسٌ والظلامُ رَفيقُ

    Be gentle, for I have no helper but my tears;

    And my sleeplessness is a close friend, and darkness a companion.

  12. أُسامِرُ نجْمَ الأفْقِ والأفْقُ روضةٌ

    تفتّحَ فيها نرْجِسٌ وشقيقُ

    I converse by night with the horizon's star, and the horizon is a garden

    Where narcissus and anemones have blossomed.

  13. مُنَى القلْبِ هلا للقطيعةِ آخِرٌ

    وللقُربِ منْ بعْدِ البِعادِ طريقُ

    O heart's desire, is there no end to estrangement,

    And no path to closeness after separation?

  14. ولكن إذا لمْ تدْرِ ما بي ولم تذُقْ

    غَرامي وما ألقَى فسوفَ تَذوقُ

    And yet, if you do not know what ails me, and have not tasted

    My passion and what I endure—then you shall taste it.

  15. وأُنشِدُ لا أثني العِنانَ تشَفّياً

    كِلانا على حُكْمِ الغرامِ مَشوقُ

    And I recite, without drawing back the reins, in vindictive satisfaction:

    Both of us are filled with longing under the sway of passion.