سفرت فخلت سواد معجرها

ليلاً تقنع جنحه بدر

She unveiled, and I took her head-veil's blackness

for a night whose darkness a full moon wore as a veil.

برزت لنا يوم الوداع وقد

بهر الكواعب حولها الخطر

She appeared to us on the day of parting, and

her stately bearing had dazzled the budding-breasted maidens around her—

من كل جائلة الوشاح إذا

قامت وناء بردفها الخصر

each with a loose-hanging sash; whenever

she stood, her waist strained under the weight of her hips.

فكأنها شمس الضحى طلعت

وكأنهن كواكبٌ زهر

So she was like the morning sun just risen,

and they were like radiant stars.

نفد الزمان ولم أنل أرباً

من وصلهم وتصرم العمر

Time ran out, yet I gained no fulfillment

from union with them, and life slipped away.

كم أجتني ثمر الوفا ويدي

من فضل ما غلقت به صفر

How often I gather the fruit of fidelity, while my hand

is empty of bounty from what it clung to.

وإذا الهوى عذبت موارده

للعاشقين فخلوه مر

And when love's watering places grow sweet

for lovers, then its absence is bitter.

يا من جفا طرفي فأرقه

وخلا بقلبٍ حشوه جمر

O you who forsook my eye and made it sleepless,

and dwelt alone in a heart filled with embers,

عاقب بسلب سوى الرقاد فلي

إلا على فقد الكرى صبر

punish me by taking anything but sleep, for I have

patience—except at the loss of slumber.

فلعل طيفاً منك يطرقني

تحت الظلام فيحمد الهجر

For perhaps a phantom of you will visit me

under cover of darkness, and separation will earn praise.

أألوم دهراً ما لحادثه

نهيٌ علي ولا له أمر

Should I blame time, when its misfortune has

no power over me to forbid or command?

أم كيف أشكو صرف نائبةٍ

ونوال نصر الله لي نصر

Or how can I complain of calamity's vicissitudes,

when Nasr Allah's bounty is my support?