1. أَسلت لك العينين دمعاً مرقرقا

    وَسمت لك الجنبين وجداً محرقا

    For you I made both my eyes stream with glistening tears.

    For you I branded both my sides with searing longing.

  2. خليليَّ مالي عنكما متحوّل

    اذا لم تكونا لي رفيقين فارفقا

    My two friends, I have no recourse apart from you;

    if you will not be my companions, then be gentle.

  3. ابثُّكما عينا تلجلج دمعها

    وقلباً متى نهنهته لجّ محنقا

    I confide to you both an eye whose tears tremble,

    and a heart that stubbornly rages whenever I restrain it.

  4. ولم ار الا لي عقيق شفاهكم

    عقيقا والا ابرق الثغر ابرقا

    I have seen only the carnelian of your lips as my

    ʿAqīq, and only your mouth's gleaming ridge as my Abraq;

  5. ووجداً كمشبوب الاوارين في الحشا

    يخبّ اذا ما لاعج الحب اعنقا

    and longing like twin fires kindled in my breast,

    that trots whenever love's searing flame speeds onward.

  6. فمن مبلغٌ عني الوكة شيِّق

    حبيبا بمحتل السماوة شيَقا

    Who, then, will bear a yearning lover's message from me

    to a yearning beloved lodged in Samawah?

  7. فيا لا عدا ارض السماوة مرعدٌ

    من الغيث يسقي ما حل الترب مبرقا

    Oh, may no thundering raincloud bypass the land of Samawah,

    flashing lightning and watering all that dwells upon its soil.

  8. ازجّ لصحراء السماوة جسرة

    علاة تجوب البيد هوجاء سوهقا

    I urge a sturdy she-camel toward Samawah's desert,

    tall and tough, crossing the wastes, headlong and long-legged.

  9. ترانيَ منها آخذاً بخطامها

    كصلٍّ وثوب بالمخطَّم عُلِّقا

    You see me with her, grasping her halter,

    like a leaping viper fastened to the haltered beast.

  10. اذا ادلج الركب المغذ بليله

    يقلِّب للركب المغلس حملقا

    When the hurrying caravan travels through the night,

    it turns the white of its eye toward the caravan traveling before dawn.

  11. ولو لم اعلل في تأوب نوقه

    زجرت له الاحشاء تخفق انيقا

    Were I not finding solace in his she-camels' night journey,

    I would urge my throbbing entrails onward for him as she-camels.

  12. اما وثنايا أن برقن لناظرٍ

    توَّهمت أن البرق منها تألَّقا

    Ah, by front teeth—if they flash before an onlooker,

    I imagine lightning has flared from them—

  13. ومصقول وردٍ في الخدود مكمَّم

    به عبثت ريح الصبا فتفتَّقا

    and by a glossy rose, still in bud upon the cheeks,

    the east wind toyed with it, and it burst into bloom;

  14. وسود جفون تقطر الخمر أن رنت

    شربت بهنَّ الصرخديّ المروَّقا

    and by dark eyelids that drip wine whenever they gaze,

    through them I drank clarified Sarkhadi wine;

  15. تعوَّذت باسم اللَه حين يديرها

    نوافث سحر لا تعوَّذ بالرقى

    I sought refuge in God's name when it was passed around

    by blowers of sorcery that no incantations could ward off.

  16. الا عاطني الكاس الدهاق بمقلةٍ

    يطيب بها شربي صبوحاً ومغبقا

    Come, offer me the brimming cup through your eye,

    that sweetens my drinking, morning and evening.

  17. اعلّ بمرحوق بفيك كأنما

    اعلّ بمغبوق من الكاس صفِّقا

    I sip anew the nectar in your mouth, as though

    sipping anew an evening draught from the cup, strained clear.

  18. شربت الطلا صرفاً قديماً وحادثا

    واطيب ما احسو السلاف المعتَّقا

    I have drunk unmixed wine, old and new,

    and the sweetest I sip is aged first-run wine.

  19. ويا بأبي افدي وامي وأسرتي

    غزالاً رعى بالرمل ضالاً وزنبقا

    And oh, I would ransom with my father, mother, and family

    a gazelle that grazed on wild lote-trees and lilies in the sands.

  20. هو البدر في اوج السما غير أنه

    تطلَّع في ارض السماوة مشرقا

    He is the full moon at the sky's zenith, except that

    he rose radiant in the land of Samawah.

  21. هو الصورة الحسنا التي لو تصوَّرت

    لداود في محرابه لتعشَّقا

    He is the beautiful form that, had it appeared

    to David in his sanctuary, would have made him fall in love.

  22. هو المسك طيباً والصبا غضوية

    وزهرُ الربى غضّاً تعبَّق مونقا

    He is musk in fragrance, and the east wind from ghada thickets,

    and fresh hill-blossoms, fragrant and lovely.

  23. لئن شتَّت الدهر المفرق جمعنا

    فلن يجمعنَّ الدهر الا وفرّقا

    If divisive Time has scattered our gathering,

    Time will never unite us without parting us again.

  24. أُخيَّ لقد طال البعاد الا اقتراب

    تقاعست ام خلت السماوة جُلَّقا

    My dear brother, separation has lasted long—will you not draw near?

    Have you held back, or taken Samawah for Jullaq?

  25. ولو لم اكفكفه بكفيَ دائباً

    تحدَّر فياض العزالين مغرقا

    Were I not ceaselessly wiping it away with my palm,

    it would pour from both brimming spouts and drown me.

  26. كأنّ اتصال الدمع في جريانه

    على النحر خيل تقطع البيد سبَّقا

    As though the tears, streaming unbroken

    over my breast, were horses racing across the wastes.

  27. كأنّ العيون الطافيات بدمعها

    زوارق كادت ان تعوم وتغرقا

    As though the eyes, afloat in their tears,

    were skiffs on the verge of floating and sinking.

  28. كأنّ اللحاظ الطامحات سوانحاً

    جوانح طيرٍ بالقوادم حلّقا

    As though the upward-straining glances, darting across,

    were birds' wings soaring on their foremost flight-feathers.

  29. اذا رمتُ لي يوماً طريقا مخلِّصا

    وجدتُ من البلوى طريقاً مُطرقا

    If one day I seek a path that might free me,

    I find a well-trodden road of affliction.

  30. اذا فاح ريعان الصبا بأريجه

    نشقت الكبا والمندليَّ المعبَّقا

    When the bloom of youth gives forth its fragrance,

    I breathe incense and fragrant Mandali aloeswood.

  31. اراه مقيماً في الفؤاد وان نأى

    فغرّب نأياً في البلاد وشرَّقا

    I see him dwelling in my heart, though he is far away,

    having journeyed far west and east across the lands.

  32. يعفُّ له دون النطاق مفخمٌ

    نبيلٌ وخصرٌ بالنحول تمنطقا

    Beneath his girdle, his ample hips remain chaste—

    nobly formed—and his waist is girdled with slenderness.