وأَسمرَ ذَنْبي للعواذلِ حُبُّهُ

وأَسمرَ ذَنْبي للعواذلِ حُبُّهُ

وذلك ذنبٌ لست منه بتائبِ

وذلك ذنبٌ لست منه بتائبِ

And a brown-skinned youth—loving him is my sin in the reproachful women's eyes;

My dark complexion I blame on my love for the fair maidens;

and that is a sin of which I do not repent.

A sin for which I feel no repentance or shame.

عُذِلْتُ على حُبِّي له حينَ ذَبَّلَتْ

عُذِلْتُ على حُبِّي له حينَ ذَبَّلَتْ

له الشفةُ اللمياءُ خُضْرَةَ شارب

له الشفةُ اللمياءُ خُضْرَةَ شارب

I was reproached for loving him when

I've been chastised for loving one whose rosy flushed lips

his dusky lip withered the greenness of a moustache.

Have faded and lost their bright verdant hue.

وقد كنتُ أَهوى الحاجبين الَّلذَيْ لَهُ

وقد كنتُ أَهوى الحاجبين الَّلذَيْ لَهُ

فكيف وقد صارتْ ثلاثَ حواجب

فكيف وقد صارتْ ثلاثَ حواجب

And I already loved his two eyebrows;

Once I adored her fine arched eyebrows, but now there are three;

so how much more, now that they have become three eyebrows!

How could I not help but pull back in dismay?