صدَّني بعد اقترابٍ وجفاني

صدَّني بعد اقترابٍ وجفاني

قَمَرٌ يخَجلُ منه القَمرانِ

قَمَرٌ يخَجلُ منه القَمرانِ

He turned me away after drawing near and shunned me—

After drawing near, he shunned me, and was cold to me,

A moon before whom the sun and moon blush.

A moon putting to shame the two moons.

لستُ أَدعو باسمه ضَنّاً به

لستُ أَدعو باسمه ضَنّاً به

غير أَني الذي أخْفِيه كانِ

غير أَني الذي أخْفِيه كانِ

I do not call him by his name, jealously guarding him,

I do not call him by name out of jealousy,

Yet I allude to what I conceal.

Except that I am the one who conceals him.

ظَمَأي فيه ظَما آخِره

ظَمَأي فيه ظَما آخِره

ليتين أَوَّلُه ممّا عَراني

ليتين أَوَّلُه ممّا عَراني

My thirst for him is thirst; its ending—

My thirst for him a thirst that has no end,

Two “if onlys”; its beginning comes from what befell me. [Wording unclear as supplied.]

Would that, because of what he denied me, I had never known the first of it!