رويدك بي فدتك النفس مني

وما ملكت يدي عزاً ومالا

Be gentle with me; may my soul ransom you,

and all my hand possesses, honor and wealth.

اتمحضني الصدود ولست ادري

ملالاً كان صدّك ام دلالا

Do you give me only rejection? I do not know

whether your rejection was weariness or coyness.

وطُل لازلت مختصراً بنيلٍ

علي صبّ كخصرك لن يزالا

And bestow favor—may bounty ever enfold you—

on a lovesick man forever slender as your waist.

فما الورقاء ذات الطوق ناحت

على الاثلاث منه ارقُّ حالا

For no collared gray dove that mourns

upon the tamarisks is in a more piteous plight than he.

اذاع الحب فيك مصون سري

فاسبل مقلتيَّ دماً مذالا

Love for you has divulged my guarded secret,

so it made my eyes stream with freely shed blood.

سل الاجفان إِن انكرت وجدي

فكم دمع لها في الخد سالا

Ask the eyelids, if you deny my passion:

for how many tears of theirs have flowed down my cheek!

فدى لك يا غزال الرمل صبٌّ

يبيت الليل يفترش الرمالا

A lovesick man is your ransom, O gazelle of the sands,

who spends the night with the sands for his bed.

بخلت بيقظة بالوصل فامنن

بطيفٍ منك يطرقني خيالا

You withheld union in waking life; then grant me

a phantom of you to visit me by night in a dream.

وحسبي انَّ لي بهواك قلباً

يكابد بعدك الداء العضالا

And it is enough for me that, in loving you, I have a heart

that suffers an incurable illness in your absence.

وكم واشٍ لحاه اللَه يسعى

ليقطع من مودتنا حبالا

And how many a slanderer—may God disgrace him—strives

to sever the cords of our affection.

ولين معاطف ما مسن الا

سلبن الغصن ليناً واعتدالا

And one with supple limbs that never swayed

without robbing the bough of suppleness and upright grace,

وعذب مراشفٍ لعس شربنا

على نغم بها الخمر الحلالا

and sweet, dusky lips—we drank

from them, to melodies, the lawful wine.

فما القمر المنير لديَّ ابهى

واسنى من محاسنه جمالا

For the radiant moon is not, to me, more splendid

or more radiant in beauty than his charms.

ولا الماذي احلى من شمول

يطوف بها يمينا أو شمالا

Nor is white honey sweeter than the wine

he carries round to right or left.

هصرت الفود منه فخال أني

لثمت بخده الوريدّ خالا

I bent his temple toward me, and he thought I

had kissed a mole upon his rose-like cheek.

وابيض شامخ العرنين شهم

يطول بباعه السمر الطوالا

And a fair, proud-nosed, gallant man,

whose reach surpasses the tall brown spears,

اذا ما الركب عرّس في حماه

واوثق من ركائبه العقالا

when the caravan halts by night within his haven

and securely fastens the hobbles of its mounts,

بكفٍّ يستهلّ العرف منها

كذاك الغيث ينهمل انهمالا

with a hand from which bounty showers

as the rain pours down in torrents.

انا ابن الشم من آناف فهر

شأوا بانوف آلهم ألالا

I am a son of Fihr's proud, high-nosed leaders,

who, with their clan's noses, overtopped Alal.

رجال كالجبال حجىً ولكن

لها همم تزيح بها الجبالا

Men like mountains in wisdom; yet

they have resolves with which they move mountains.

رست قدمٌ لهم في المجد احذت

هلال الافق اخمصها نعالا

A foot of theirs stands firm in glory, and has made

the horizon's crescent into sandals for its arch.

يضيء سنانه الظماء حتى

تخال لسان لهذمه ذبالا

His thirsty spearhead shines so brightly

you mistake his keen spear's tongue for a burning wick.

تردّى بردها والسيف عارٍ

يجذُّبه من القمم القذالا

He donned its mantle, while the sword was bare;

with it he lops the napes from lofty heads.

سيقري البيض نابضة الهوادي

ويروي السمر من علق نهالا

He will feast the white blades on pulsing throats,

and slake the thirsty brown spears with clotted blood.