أما ولماه ورشف القبل

بشرق اللواحظ ما لي قبل

Indeed, by his dusky lips and the sipping of kisses,

I have no strength against the radiance of his glances.

فيا من يروح قتيل السيوف

اليك فاني طعين المقل

O you who fall slain by swords,

stand aside, for I am pierced by eyes.

أقول وسمر القنا دونه

خذوا قودي من اسير الكلل

I say, with brown lances guarding him,

“Take vengeance for me on the captive of the bed-curtains!”

فوا حربا لاسير الظبا

وواعجبا لاسير قتل

Alas for the captive of sword-blades,

and what a marvel—a captive who has slain!

به صرت بين الورى مثلة

ويضرب بي في هواه المثل

Through him I became a spectacle among humankind,

and I am made a byword for loving him.

وماس وكنت جريح الاسى

فمال وقلبي طعين الأسل

He swayed, while I was wounded by sorrow;

then he leaned, my heart pierced by spears.

فمن لي من لحظه إن غزا

ومن لي من جفنه إن غزل

Who, then, will shield me from his glance if it attacks,

and who from his eyelid if it flirts?

له در ثغر فما ذا عسى

أقول وفيه اللمى والعسل

His mouth has pearls—what could I

say, when it holds dusky lips and honey?

لرسم اصطباري هواه محا

وأمسى له في فؤادي محل

Love for him erased the trace of my endurance,

and now he has a dwelling in my heart.

يكاد لرقة أعطافه

من اللين يعقد لولا الكفل

Such is the delicacy of his frame that he could almost

be tied in a knot from suppleness, but for his hips.

فإن قيل بدرٌ فقل عبده

وإن قيل شمس الضحى قل أجل

If they say, “A full moon,” say, “His slave”;

and if they say, “The morning sun,” say, “Indeed.”