يا هند ما ارتاب فيك حين رأى

أن العواذل لم تفهم معانيكِ

O Hind, he did not doubt you when he saw

that the reproachers did not understand your meanings.

لو أنهم أبصروا النور الذي فتنت

عيناك قلبي به كانوا أحبوكِ

Had they seen the light that bewitched

my heart through your eyes, they would have loved you.

إذن لحزَّت بصدري غيرةٌ ذهبت

بها حياتي شقاءً منهم فيك

Then jealousy would have cut into my breast, wasting

my life in misery on their account, over you.

فالحمد للَه إذ ضلّوا السبيل وإذ

آبوا برأيٍ كما تدرين مأفوك

So praise be to God, since they lost the way, and since

they returned with an opinion that, as you know, is false.

وما لنا ولهم إمّا هذوا وهذوا

فنحن نضحك من هذي الأضاحيك

And what have we to do with them if they babble and babble?

For we laugh at these absurdities.

ولن يعاب جمال ليس تفهمه

بين الورى زمر الأغمار والنوك

Nor shall beauty be faulted for not being understood

by bands of the inexperienced and the foolish among humankind.

الحسنُ يفهمه قلبٌ يذوب هوىً

يأتي به كل تسكين وتحريك

Beauty is understood by a heart that melts with love,

brought on by every stilling and stirring.

لا من تراءى بمرأى سيدٍ وله

في كل حالة دنيا قلبُ صعلوك

Not by one who appears with a lord's bearing, yet has

in every lowly circumstance, a pauper's heart.

دعيهم وهلمّي اسقي فؤادي من

جمال عينيك نوراً وهو يسقيك

Leave them and come: give my heart a drink of

light from the beauty of your eyes, while it gives you drink.

ومتعيني بمشهودٍ ومحتجبٍ

وارشفيني برد العيش من فيك

And delight me with what is seen and what is veiled,

and let me sip the coolness of life from your mouth.

ولا تبالي بما قالوا وما فعلوا

فلن تؤخر فجراً صيحةُ الديك

And pay no heed to what they said or what they did,

for a rooster's cry will never delay the dawn.

أنا أهواكِ كما يهوي الظلامُ

زُهرَهُ

I love you as darkness loves

its bright stars.

وهي فيك الحسن قد أبدي النظامُ

نثره

And they are beauty in you; order has revealed

its scattering.

فحلا الوجه كما يجلو التمام

بدره

So the face grew lovely, as fullness reveals

its full moon.

ألثميني الخد جمراً قد تحلى

ورده

Let me kiss the cheek: with embers is adorned

its rose.

وأنيليني ثغراً يتملّا

برده

And grant me a mouth, that I may savor

its coolness.

وأَعيدي لي وصلاً قد تولّى

عهده

And restore to me a union—gone is

its time.

أنا من قد تيَّمته في الورى

بسمة

I am one enthralled, among humankind, by

a smile.

وأنا في الحب لي لن سترا

شيمةٌ

And in love, concealment will never be my

habit.

لست أشكو إنها فيها أرى

قسمةٌ

I do not complain; indeed, in it I see

an allotted share.

فارحمي يرحمكِ اللَه فما

أعهدُ

So have mercy—may God have mercy on you—for I do not

know

بك بخلاً وغرامي مثلما

تشهدُ

any stinginess in you; my passion is just as

they attest—

لي عيناكِ وسعدي فيهما

أرصدُ

your eyes, to me; and in them my good fortune I

watch for.

قد يجنُّ المرءُ لكن بعد حين

يعقلُ

A person may go mad, but after a while

regains reason.

وهو يدري ما الذي رغم الجنون

يفعلُ

And he knows what, despite his madness,

he does.

وبذاعنه أحاديث شجون

تنقلُ

And thus, about him, tales of sorrow

are told.

حُرستِ من أعين الحساد أنهم

بكل عين حسود قد أصابوك

May you be guarded from the eyes of the envious, for they

have struck you with every envious eye.

يفديك عمري لكن لا أراه يفي

ببعض حسنك عمري وهو يفديك

My life would ransom you, but I do not think it suffices

for even part of your beauty—my life, though it would ransom you.

فلا تخافي فذا قلبي أُصيره

تعويذةً علقيها وهي تحميك

So do not fear: this is my heart, which I shall make

an amulet; hang it up, and it will protect you.

ولا تبالي بما قال العواذلُ إذ

عواذلي فيكِ لم تفهم معانيك

And pay no heed to what the reproachers said, since

my reproachers over you did not understand your meanings.