1. يا طيرُ ما للنومِ قد طارا

    وما قضينا منهُ أوطارا

    O bird, why has sleep taken flight,

    while we have not yet had our fill of it?

  2. كأن هذا السهدَ لا يأتلي

    يطلبُ من أجفاننا ثارا

    As though this sleeplessness spares no effort

    in seeking vengeance upon our eyelids.

  3. إن كنتَ ظمآنَ فذي دمعي

    تفجرَتْ في الأرضِ أنهارا

    If you are thirsty, here are my tears:

    they have burst forth as rivers upon the earth.

  4. أو كنتَ ذا مسبغةٍ فالتقط

    حبةَ قلبي كيفما صارا

    Or if hunger afflicts you, pick up

    the grain of my heart, whatever it has become.

  5. أو كنتَ مشتاقاً فكن مثلنا

    على الهوى يا طير صبارا

    Or if you are yearning, be like us,

    ever patient in love, O bird.

  6. وجارني إن كنتَ لي صاحباً

    فإن خيرَ الصحبِ من جارى

    And keep pace with me, if you are my companion,

    for the best companion is one who keeps pace.

  7. يا طيرُ كم في الحبِّ من ساعةٍ

    تخالُ فيها العمرَ أعمارا

    O bird, how many an hour in love

    in which you deem one lifetime many lives!

  8. إن قلتُ تلهيني بها فكرةٌ

    جرت على الأفكار أفكارا

    If I say a thought will distract me in that hour,

    it draws still more thoughts upon my thoughts.

  9. أو قلتُ أنساها أقامَ الهوى

    من حرها في القلبِ تذكارا

    Or if I say I shall forget it, love raises

    from its heat a memorial within the heart.

  10. والصبُّ ما ينفكُّ في حيرةٍ

    تزيدُهُ حزناً وأكدارا

    And the lovesick one is ever in bewilderment

    that adds to his sorrow and troubles.

  11. ما لي أرى الأطيارَ نواحةً

    كأنما فارقنَ أطيارا

    Why do I see the birds lamenting,

    as though they had parted from other birds?

  12. وما لأغصانِ الرُّبى تلتقي

    كأنما يبثثنَ أسرارا

    And why do the branches of the hills meet,

    as though confiding secrets?

  13. فاسأل نسيمَ الصبحِ إن مرَّ بي

    هل حملتهُ الغيدُ أخبارا

    So ask the morning breeze, if it passes by me,

    whether the graceful maidens have laden it with news.

  14. وسلْ عن الديارِ ويا ليتني

    أزور يوماً هذهِ الدارا

    And ask about the dwellings—oh, would that I

    could visit this abode one day!

  15. كأنها الجنةُ لكنني

    أبطنتُ من وجدي بها النارا

    It is like Paradise, yet I

    have hidden fire within, from my yearning for it.

  16. سماؤها مطلعةٌ أنجما

    وأرضُها تطلعُ أقمارا

    Its sky brings forth stars,

    and its earth brings forth moons.

  17. وكمْ بها من أكحلٍ إن رنا

    سلتْ لكَ الأجفانُ بتارا

    And how many a kohl-eyed beauty there—if he gazes,

    his eyelids unsheathe a keen blade for you!

  18. وإن مشى يخطرُ في تيههِ

    هزَّت لكَ الأعطافَ خطارا

    And if he walks, swaying in his pride,

    his supple sides brandish a swaying spear for you.

  19. لا أنكرُ السحرَ وذا طرفهُ

    أصبحَ بينَ الناسِ سحَّارا

    I do not deny magic—this glance of his

    has become a sorcerer among men.

  20. يا فاتنَ الصبِّ على رغمهِ

    والمرءُ لا يعشقُ مختارا

    O enchanter of the lovesick one against his will—

    for no one falls in love by choice.

  21. طوراً بنا هجرٌ وطوراً نوىً

    أهكذا نخلقُ أطوارا

    Now estrangement afflicts us, now separation;

    is this how we are created, in stages?

  22. لو شبهوا بدرَ السما درهماً

    لشبهوا وجهكَ دينارا

    If they likened the sky’s full moon to a dirham,

    they would liken your face to a dinar.

  23. وكم درارٍ فيكَ نظَّمتُها

    تجلُّ أن تحسبَ أشعارا

    And how many pearls I have strung in your praise,

    too exalted to be reckoned poetry!

  24. لو أن بشاراً حكى مثلها

    أعطوا لواءَ الشعرِ بشارا

    Had Bashshar recited their like,

    they would have given Bashshar the banner of poetry.

  25. لاحتْ لنا والشمسُ من غيظها

    قدْ ضرجتْ أثوابها بالدمِ

    She appeared to us, while the sun, in her fury,

    had stained her garments with blood.

  26. فاتنةٌ من بخلها لم تزلْ

    وجنتُها معصورةً في الفمِ

    A beauty whose miserliness has ever kept

    her cheek pressed within her mouth.

  27. فما أراها راهبٌ راهباً

    إلا شكا المغرمُ للمغرمِ

    No monk ever showed her to another monk

    without one lovesick man lamenting to another.

  28. بأبي أنتَ يا غزالُ وروحي

    وفؤادي ونورُ عيني وعيني

    May my father ransom you, O gazelle, and my soul,

    and my heart, and the light of my eye, and my eye!

  29. أنتَ كالبدرِ حين يطلعُ لكنْ

    في سوادِ القلوبِ والمقلتينِ

    You are like the full moon when it rises, but

    within the blackness of hearts and both eyes.

  30. لو رآكَ الذينَ قالوا ثلاثٌ

    بعدَ وهنٍ لثلثوا القمرينِ

    Had those who said ‘Three’ seen you

    late at night, they would have made the two luminaries three.

  31. خفقَ الحلي فوقَ صدركَ والقل

    بِ فهل أنتَ مالكُ الخافقينِ

    The jewels fluttered above your breast, and the heart—

    are you then master of the two that flutter?

  32. وأرى السحرَ في العيونِ فهل جئ

    تَ بها بابلاً إلى الساحرينِ

    And I see magic in the eyes; so have you come

    with them to Babylon, to the two sorcerers?

  33. وبخديكِ جنتانِ ولكنْ

    في فؤادي لظىً من الجنتينِ

    And on your cheeks are two gardens, yet

    in my heart is a blaze from those two gardens.

  34. يا قضاةَ الغرامِ في أيِّ شرعٍ

    أن يحولوا بينَ الحبيبِ وبيني

    O judges of love, under what law

    may they stand between my beloved and me?

  35. في يدكمْ غريمٌ ظبي من الغر

    بِ سبى المشرقينِ والمغربينِ

    In your hands is a litigant, a gazelle from the West,

    who has captivated the two Easts and the two Wests.

  36. فاتقوا اللهَ في قتيلٍ حبيبٍ

    حسنٍ طُلَّ دمهُ كالحسينِ

    So fear God concerning a slain beloved,

    fair, whose blood went unavenged like al-Husayn’s.