1. ودي لكم صدق بغير تملق

    وسوايَ في دعواه غير مصدق

    My affection for you is sincere, without flattery,

    And anyone but me is not to be believed in his claim.

  2. يا من محاسنه تشوق لناظري

    رفقا فديتك بالفؤاد الشيق

    O you whose charms captivate my eye,

    Be gentle with this yearning heart—may I be your ransom.

  3. وانظر إلى جفني القريح وعبرتي

    فعسى ترق لدمعي المترقرق

    And look at my sore eyelid and my tear;

    Perhaps you will take pity on my welling tears.

  4. واستبق جسما ذاب فيك صبابة

    يكفيك ما يلقى الفؤاد وما لقي

    And spare a body melted by longing for you;

    Let what the heart suffers and has suffered suffice you.

  5. ما ضر من اهواه لو يبقى على

    رمقي وكنت قنعت منه بما بقي

    What harm would it do the one I love to spare

    my last breath? I had been content with what remained of him.

  6. من لي به شاكي السلاح لقد رنا

    ومن المحاسن قد اتى في فيلق

    Who will help me against him, bristling with weapons? He has fixed his gaze,

    And come amid a legion of charms.

  7. فالنبل هدب والقسيّ حواجب

    والطرف بين مسدد ومفوق

    For the arrows are lashes, and the bows are brows;

    And his gaze is now aiming, now nocking.

  8. انا ان سطا بسنان ذابل طرفه

    لا طاقة لي بالعدو الازرق

    I—if he strikes with the point of his gaze's slender spear—

    have no strength against the blue-eyed foe.

  9. قل للعذول على هوى الحاظه

    حتام تسلك في طريق ضيق

    Tell the reproacher of my love for his glances:

    How long will you follow so narrow a path?

  10. انا لا اطيق العذل فيه فخلني

    من قول واش او حديث متمق

    I cannot bear reproach over him, so spare me

    a slanderer's words or a dissembler's talk.

  11. يا للبرية من غنى ملاحة

    زاهي الجمال ممنطق ومقرطق

    O creation, behold one rich in charm,

    Resplendent in beauty, belted and clad in a tunic!

  12. اشكو لعزّ جماله ذلي عسى

    تدنيه مني رحمة المتصدق

    I complain of my abasement to his beauty's might; perhaps

    an almsgiver's compassion will draw him close to me.

  13. للّه ليلة زارني متكتماً

    حذر المراقب والعذول الاحمق

    How wondrous the night he visited me in secret,

    Fearing the watcher and the foolish reproacher!

  14. فغدا وقد نمن مناطقه به

    فعجبت كيف ينم من لم ينطق

    Then he went forth, his girdles having given him away;

    So I wondered: how can one who has not spoken tell tales?

  15. نشوان من خمر الدلال يروقني

    ماء الحياة بخده المترقرق

    He is drunk on the wine of coquetry; what delights me is

    the shimmering water of life upon his cheek.

  16. فكأن وجنته ونبت عذاره

    طرس به آثار سطر ملحق

    So his cheek, with its budding down, seems like

    a page bearing the traces of an appended line.

  17. وهواه لم ابرح اسير وثاقه

    وكفاك عهدي في الغرام وموثقي

    And in his love I have never ceased to be captive to his bonds;

    And my pledge in passion and my binding oath suffice you.

  18. انفقت عمري في هواه وليتني

    في الحب لو اعطيت اجر المنفق

    I have spent my life in loving him; would that I

    were granted, in love, the reward of one who spends!

  19. ووهبته روحي كما يهب الندى

    قاضي القضاة محمد ابن مزلق

    And I gave him my soul, just as bounty is bestowed by

    the chief judge, Muhammad ibn Muzliq.

  20. مولى متى استجديت سحب نواله

    مستمطرا منها المكرم تغرق

    A lord: whenever you beg from the clouds of his bounty,

    seeking from them a rain of generosity, you are drowned.

  21. فكأنما خلقت يداه من السخا

    وكأنما لسوى العطا لم تخلق

    So it is as though his hands were created from generosity,

    And as though they were never made for anything but giving.

  22. يا جلّقا وافى الهنا فتمتعي

    فرحا بايام الوفا وتحلق

    O Jilliq, joy has arrived; take your pleasure,

    Rejoicing in days of fulfillment, and gather in circles!

  23. فالجامع الاموي اصبح يزدهي

    ومن الجمال عليه عظم رونق

    For the Umayyad Mosque now glows with pride,

    And the radiance of beauty upon it has grown magnificent.

  24. لله حين رقى عليه ساجعا

    في حلة يزهو وحسن مطلق

    How wondrous when he ascended it, cooing in rhyme,

    Resplendent in a robe and boundless beauty!

  25. بالسجع يذكرنا الرياض وعوده

    رطب يهيج عليه كل مطوّق

    With his rhymed cooing he reminds us of the gardens; his bough

    is fresh; upon it every ring-necked dove is stirred.

  26. ذها لبابك خدمة وفت على

    حسبي وذلك حيلة لمسترزق

    Take it—an offering at your door that has surpassed

    my worth; that is a livelihood-seeker's device.

  27. عذراء لم يأت الزمان بمثلها

    وإلى معاني حسنها لم اسبق

    A virgin poem—time has never brought forth her like,

    And none has preceded me to the meanings of her beauty.

  28. عذرا لتأخيري بها ذفيك لم

    استوف امداحي ولم استغرق

    Pardon my delay in presenting her; for in praising you I have not

    completed my praises, nor exhausted them.

  29. فانعم بها متمتعا فهي التي

    بسواك حيل رجائها لم يعلق

    So enjoy her, taking pleasure; she is the one

    whose cord of hope has attached itself to none but you.

  30. لا زال نجمك بالسعادة طالعاً

    والشمل مجتمع بغير تفرق

    May your star forever rise with good fortune,

    And your fellowship remain united, without dispersal,

  31. ما افترّ ثغر الصبح عن شنب الندى

    وبدا سنا وجه النهار المشرق

    As long as dawn's mouth smiles, revealing dew's cool brilliance,

    And the radiance of day's shining face appears.