أما ولماه ورشف القبل

بشرق اللواحظ ما لي قبل

Indeed, by his lips’ dark hue and the sipping of kisses,

I have no strength against the gleam of glances.

فيا من يروح قتيل السيوف

اليك فاني طعين المقل

O you who depart, slain by swords,

Stand aside, for I am pierced by eyes.

أقول وسمر القنا دونه

خذوا قودي من اسير الكلل

I say, while dusky spear-shafts stand before him:

Exact my blood-vengeance from the captive behind the curtains.

فوا حربا لاسير الظبا

وواعجبا لاسير قتل

So alas, what woe for the captive of the blades!

And oh, the wonder of a captive who has killed!

به صرت بين الورى مثلة

ويضرب بي في هواه المثل

Because of him I became a cautionary example among mankind,

And I am made a proverb for my love of him.

وماس وكنت جريح الاسى

فمال وقلبي طعين الأسل

And he swayed, while I was wounded by sorrow;

Then he leaned, while my heart was pierced by lances.

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 will shield me from his eyelid if it flirts?

له در ثغر فما ذا عسى

أقول وفيه اللمى والعسل

His mouth has pearls—what, then, might

I say when it holds dark lip-hue and honey?

لرسم اصطباري هواه محا

وأمسى له في فؤادي محل

Love of him erased the trace of my endurance,

And now he has a dwelling in my heart.

يكاد لرقة أعطافه

من اللين يعقد لولا الكفل

So delicate are his sides that he could almost

Be tied in a knot through suppleness, but for his haunches.

فإن قيل بدرٌ فقل عبده

وإن قيل شمس الضحى قل أجل

If they say, ‘A full moon,’ say, ‘It is his servant’;

And if they say, ‘The forenoon sun,’ say, ‘Yes.’