1. يا هل أذوق لماك بردا

    خصِرا فاطفئُ فيه وقدا

    Oh, might I taste the coolness of your dusky lips,

    their chill, and in it quench a blaze?

  2. وأُسرّح اللحظ الطموح

    يرود من خديك وردا

    And let my eager gaze roam,

    seeking roses from your cheeks.

  3. لي من رضابك موردٌ

    يا حبذا لي ذاك وردا

    I have a drinking-place in your saliva;

    oh, how lovely that draught is to me!

  4. تاللَه أشهد أنه

    حلو يمجُّ الريق شهدا

    By God, I testify that it

    is sweet, pouring forth saliva as honey.

  5. ومهفهف الكشحين يخطر

    ساحباً في المشي بُردا

    And a slender-flanked one struts,

    trailing a striped mantle as he walks.

  6. يهتزُّ لي غصن النقا

    إن ماس أوان هز قدّا

    The sand dune's branch sways before me,

    if he sways, when he stirs his form.

  7. ويعنُّ لي عين الغزالة

    عارضا جيدا وخدا

    And the gazelle's eye appears before me,

    displaying a neck and cheek.

  8. من لي به متحليا

    قد علَّق الجوزاء عقدا

    Who will bring him to me, adorned,

    having hung al-Jawza as a necklace?

  9. لولاه ما يممت غوراً

    لا ولا طالعتُ نجدا

    But for him, I would not have headed for lowlands,

    no, nor looked upon Najd.

  10. وبمهجتي الرشأ الذي

    يرعى الحمى شيحا ورندا

    And with my heart's blood I would ransom the fawn who

    grazes on wormwood and laurel in the protected pasture.

  11. أمسي وأغدو في هواه

    مولَّهاً ممسىً ومغدا

    I pass the evening and greet the dawn in love with him,

    love-distraught, at evening and dawn.

  12. ويصدني عن مرشفٍ

    خصر اللمى أروى واصدى

    And he denies me the lips I would sip,

    cool and dusky, that slaked my thirst and roused it.

  13. أفديك من متمنع

    يا أيها الرشأ المفدى

    I would ransom you, aloof one,

    O you fawn I would ransom!

  14. قدتَ القلوب بأسرها

    بهوىً يقود الحر عبدا

    You have led all hearts,

    with a passion that leads a free man as a slave.

  15. جردت لحظك صارماً

    وله اتخذت حشاي غمدا

    You unsheathed your glance as a sharp sword,

    and for it made my entrails a sheath:

  16. سيفاً يريق دمَ الكلى

    رقرقت لي فيه الفرندا

    a sword that spills the kidneys' blood—

    you made its watered pattern shimmer for me.

  17. آليت لا أنفك فيك

    متيما آليت جُهدا

    I swore never to cease, for you,

    being love-enslaved; I swore with all my strength.

  18. لو تعلمنَّ بصبوتي

    لوجدت أو لقضيت وجدا

    If you only knew of my yearning,

    you would feel love's anguish, or perish from longing.

  19. ولقد ذكرتك راعياً

    للعهد حين نسيت عهدا

    And indeed I remembered you, faithful

    to the pledge, when you forgot yours.

  20. ومحضتك الودَّ الصريح

    وأنت فيه تشوب ودا

    And I gave you pure, sincere affection,

    while, in it, you adulterate love.

  21. من ناشد لي مهجة

    سقطت وقلباً فيك أودى

    Who will seek for me a soul

    that was lost, and a heart that perished in loving you,

  22. ويعيد وصف شمائل

    مثل الشمال إذا تعدى

    and describe anew those graces,

    like the north wind when it sweeps past?

  23. جئتي بمثلك ثانيا

    يا ثالث القمرين عدا

    You brought your equal as a second,

    O you, reckoned third beside the two moons!

  24. لم تبق لي أبدا دماً

    يجري ولا عظما وجلدا

    You have left me no blood at all

    to flow, nor bone or skin.

  25. وأما وفاحم مرسلٍ

    أرسلته سبطا وجعدا

    And now, by the loose-flowing, jet-black hair

    you let fall, straight and curled,

  26. بك قد ضربت بقلَّصي

    خوصا تقدُّ البيد قدّا

    for you I have journeyed on my young she-camels,

    sunken-eyed, cutting the deserts clean through.

  27. كم وهدة بك قد نزلت

    بسفحها وعلوت نهدا

    How many a hollow have I descended for you,

    down to its foot, and climbed a height!