1. جارتي هل رأيتِ مثلي جارا

    كلما جنهُ الظلامُ استجارا

    My neighbor, have you seen a neighbor like me?

    Whenever darkness shrouds him, he seeks refuge.

  2. ينثني مرةً على الكبدِ الحرّا

    ويبكي على الفؤادِ مرارا

    At one moment he bends over his burning liver,

    and weeps over his heart time and again.

  3. فأعيني على الأسى اليومَ وارعي

    بيننا الودَ والهوى والجوارا

    So help me in my sorrow today, and preserve

    the affection, love, and neighborly bond between us.

  4. كيفَ تنأينَ والقلوبُ بكفيكِ

    ولما تفكي هذهِ الأسارى

    How can you go far away, with hearts in your two hands,

    when you have not yet freed these captives?

  5. كلُ يومٍ تبلو العذابَ جديداً

    وهي ليستْ تحبُ إلا اضطرارا

    Each day they experience torment anew,

    and they love only under compulsion.

  6. وإذا ما عذبت ذي العين بالما

    ءِ فكيفَ استحقَّ ذا القلبُ نارا

    And if this eye was tormented with water,

    then how did this heart deserve fire?

  7. أمهليني أذرُّ المدامعَ حيناً

    إن في أعيني دموعاً غزارا

    Give me time to shed tears awhile;

    indeed, my eyes hold copious tears.

  8. وبنفسي على الحبيبةِ عتبٌ

    مثلَ هزِّ النسائم الأزهارا

    And in my soul is reproach for the beloved,

    like breezes stirring flowers.

  9. ليتها حينما تجنَّتْ ولا ذنبٌ

    جنيناهُ تقبل الأعذارا

    Would that, when she accused us unjustly—though no sin

    had we committed—she would accept our excuses.

  10. كيفَ هامَ القطارُ حينَ رآها

    أترى حسنُها استهامَ القطارا

    How the train fell in love when it saw her!

    Do you suppose her beauty made the train fall in love?

  11. ليسَ في قلبهِ سوى الشوقِ لكنْ

    كتم الدمعَ فاستحالَ بخارا

    Its heart holds nothing but longing, yet

    it stifled its tears, and they turned to steam.

  12. وإذ صاحَ صيحةَ الببنِ فينا

    تركَ العاشقينَ طرّاً حيارى

    And when it sounded the cry of parting among us,

    it left all the lovers bewildered.

  13. سارَ يطوي جوانبَ الأرضِ طياً

    ولو اسطاعَ أن يطيرَ لطارا

    It traveled on, folding the earth's expanses fold upon fold;

    and had it been able to fly, it would have flown—

  14. كزمانِ الصبا وونومي إذا نم

    تُ وطيفِ الحبيبِ ليلةَ زارا

    like the days of youth and my slumber when I sleep,

    and the beloved's apparition on the night it came;

  15. أو كمعنىً يمرُّ بالفكرِ لا ينقا

    دُ أو مثلِ خاطري لا يُجارى

    or like an idea passing through the mind, refusing to yield,

    or like my thought, which none can keep pace with.

  16. وكأنَّ البلادَ أرسلنَ منهُ

    مثلاً راحَ بينها سيَّارا

    And as though the lands had sent forth from it

    a likeness that went roaming among them.

  17. يا شبيهَ الدجى إذا غابتِ الشم

    سُ انطلق سالماً وقيتَ العشارا

    O likeness of darkness when the sun has set,

    go forth safely—may you be spared stumbling.

  18. لو درى الأفقُ أنها فيكَ ما أط

    لعَ شمسُ الضحى لئلا تغارا

    Had the horizon known she was within you, it would not have brought forth

    the morning sun, lest it grow jealous.

  19. سوفَ تأسى كما أسيتِ إذا ما

    آنستَ أهلها وتلكَ الديارا

    You will grieve as you grieved, when

    you catch sight of her people and those dwellings.

  20. وسرورُ الفتى غرورٌ إذا كا

    نَ يرى ما يسرُّهُ مستعارا

    And a young man's joy is delusion when

    he sees that what delights him is borrowed.

  21. ليتَ شعري أنافعي اليومَ أني

    لا أرى كالذي ترى أشعارا

    Would that I knew: does it help me today that

    I see no poems like those you see?

  22. تحسبُ الناسُ أن تلوها سكارى

    قد حسوها وما همْ بسكارى

    You would think people drunk when they recite them,

    having quaffed them—though they are not drunk at all.

  23. وإذا ما أشدتَها الفجرَ يوماً

    سحرَ الفجرَ حسنُها فاستطارا

    And if one day you chant them at dawn,

    their beauty would bewitch the dawn, and it would take flight.

  24. ورأيتُ النجومَ غارتْ حياءً

    وسمعتُ الهزارَ يُشجيْ الهزارا

    And I saw the stars sink away in bashfulness,

    and heard one nightingale move another to sorrow.

  25. إن عدمنا الناس من يسعدُ النا

    سَ فإنا لم نعدم الأطيارا

    If among people we find none who bring people joy,

    then we have not been without birds.

  26. يا ليالي الفراقِ كوني طوالاً

    داجياتٍ أو مشرقاتٍ قصارا

    O nights of parting, be long,

    dark—or bright and short.

  27. ما لمنْ فارقَ الحبيب جفونٌ

    تعرفُ الليلَ بعدهُ والنهارا

    No one who has parted from the beloved has eyelids

    that can tell night from day once he is gone.

  28. والذي يعشقُ الحسانَ إذا سرَّ

    تْهُ دهراً أسأْنهُ أدهارا

    And whoever loves beautiful women—if they delight

    him for an age, they distress him for ages.

  29. والأماني يسعى لها الناسُ لكنْ

    أنهكَ الحظُ دونها الأغمارا

    And people strive for wishes, yet

    fortune has exhausted the inexperienced before they reach them.