1. يا ليلُ أحقا كان كوى

    للخلق لديك يمتعه

    O night, was there truly [passion?]

    for humankind in your keeping, bringing them delight?

  2. وأتاك الحب بصرعاه

    يشكون إليك فضيعه

    And Love came to you with its stricken victims,

    complaining to you of its horrors.

  3. يا ليل سهاراك كثير

    وكثيراً همك تجمعه

    O night, many are your sleepless ones,

    and much is the sorrow you gather.

  4. فلماذا أحمله وحدي

    هلا أمسيت توزعه

    So why do I bear it alone?

    Why not spend the evening sharing it out?

  5. يا ليل تشكاني سهري

    والبدر تريث مطلعه

    O night, my sleeplessness has complained of me,

    and the full moon has delayed its rising.

  6. لم أظفر منك بغير صدى

    من همس الروح ترجعه

    I have gained from you nothing but an echo

    of the soul's whisper, which you return.

  7. يا لي من صب مخدودٍ

    لم يلق أنيساً يسمعه

    Alas for me, a lover with furrowed cheeks,

    who found no companion to hear him.

  8. ماذا لو كان الإلف أناه

    يطوف وذلك يمتعه

    What if the beloved had [come to him],

    roaming about—and that would delight him?

  9. أأناجي الطيف فيعصاني

    أو حتى النجوى تمنعه

    Shall I commune with the apparition, only for it to defy me?

    Or do you forbid it even whispered communion?

  10. ويلي ما كدت أصوره

    ويلوح خيالي أبدعه

    Alas, scarcely have I begun to picture him,

    and he appears—my imagination has fashioned him—

  11. إلا وخيال ملاحيتي

    يحتل اللوح ويدفعه

    when the image of my female reproacher

    takes over the panel and drives him away.

  12. عجباً للهاجر لا يأتي

    الا والعاذل لي معه

    How strange: the one who forsakes me never comes

    unless my reproacher is there with him.

  13. ما أطولَ ليل الصب على

    الملتاع نأجح أضلعه

    How long the lovesick lover's night is for

    the anguished one, whose ribs [text unclear]!

  14. يتقلب فيه على شوكٍ

    للشوق أقض مضاجعه

    He tosses in it upon thorns

    of longing that disturb his places of rest.

  15. نتصلب فيه خيوط الفرش

    ملالاً منه فتوجعه

    The threads of the bedding [stiffen] in it,

    wearied with him, and so they hurt him.

  16. ألكل محب محبوب كأس

    الأشجان يجرعه

    Does every lover have a beloved with a cup

    of sorrows that he makes him drink?

  17. أم أني وحدي لم أحذق

    رأيا للوصل فأزمعه

    Or is it only I who have failed to devise

    a plan for union, and resolve upon it?

  18. حاشا والله فما خوفي

    غلا من عينٍ تتبعه

    God forbid! By God, my fear is

    [only] of an eye that follows him,

  19. وغنائي حين أقابله

    وبكائي حين أودعه

    and my song when I meet him,

    and my weeping when I bid him farewell.

  20. لي جسمٌ فيه حساسيةٌ

    يرويه الفن وينجعه

    I have a body filled with sensitivity,

    which art waters and nourishes.

  21. فبذرت الحب فأنبته

    خصبي زهراً أتضوعه

    So I sowed love, and it was made to sprout

    by my fertility, as flowers whose fragrance I breathe.

  22. هبت ريح السلوان عليه

    وحاشا الدهر تزعزعه

    The wind of forgetfulness blew upon it,

    and far be it from Time to shake it.

  23. والقلب عليه حارسه

    تسقيه غراماً أدمعه

    And the heart stands guard over it;

    its tears water it with passion.

  24. لي صبر إلا عن صد

    وفؤادٌ كدت أوقعه

    I have patience for everything but rejection,

    and a heart I have nearly brought down.

  25. لي طرفٌ لم يلمح حسناً

    إلا وغراماً أشرعه

    I have an eye that has never glimpsed beauty

    without my opening it wide in passion.

  26. لي أذن لم ينغم نغمٌ

    حلو إلا تتسمعه

    I have an ear: no melody has sounded

    sweetly without its listening intently.

  27. وضميرٌ حي حيرني

    وهوى والقلب يتابعه

    And a living conscience that has bewildered me,

    and a passion the heart keeps following.

  28. وحبيبٌ إن يطلب تلفي

    لرضاه لرحت أطاوعه

    And a beloved who, if he asked for my destruction,

    to please him, I would set about obeying him.