1. لئن منعوكَ سلكَ المنام

    ما انفكَ ما بيننا ينقلُ

    Even if they deny you the thread of dreams,

    what passes between us is still conveyed.

  2. أراها وقد جعلتْ تمطلُ

    ذكاءٌ تضيءُ ولا تنزلُ

    I see her, now that she has begun to put me off,

    as Dhukāʾ, the sun, shining but never descending.

  3. يضنُّ الجمالُ بأربابهِ

    وأهلُ الجمالِ بهِ أبخلُ

    Beauty jealously withholds its possessors,

    and beauty's people are even more miserly with it.

  4. وسيانَ في الطيرِ عصفورةٌ

    إذا انفلتتْ منكَ والبلبلُ

    And among birds, alike are a sparrow—

    once it escapes you—and the nightingale.

  5. فيا من جعلتُ لهُ خاتماً

    متى تلبسُ الخاتمُ الأنملُ

    So, O you for whom I have made a ring,

    when will fingers wear the ring?

  6. تدوسينَ فوقَ الثرى مهجتي

    وطيفكِ في أعيني يرفلُ

    You trample my heart upon the earth,

    and your phantom walks resplendent in my eyes.

  7. فمنكِ إليَّ ومني إليكِ

    كلانا لصاحبهِ يحملُ

    So, from you to me, and from me to you,

    each of us carries the other.

  8. وذو الشوقِ يسعى على عينهِ

    إذا قعدتْ بالهوى الأرجلُ

    And the one who longs walks upon his eye,

    when love has brought his legs to a halt.

  9. سلي الصبحَ كيفَ أراقَ الكرى

    وعيني ما أوشكتْ تثملُ

    Ask the morning how it spilled sleep,

    while my eye had not yet begun to grow drunk.

  10. رمى الفجرَ فانفجرتْ عينهُ

    دماً فأتى بالندى يغسلُ

    It shot the dawn, and the dawn's eye burst

    with blood; then it brought dew to wash it away.

  11. وأضرمَ من شمسهِ شعلةً

    فجفَّ على حرِّها المقتلُ

    And it kindled a flame from its sun,

    so the site of the killing dried in its heat.

  12. كذاكَ أرى الناسَ في غدرهم

    تساوى الأواخرُ والأولُ

    Thus I see people in their treachery:

    the last and the first are alike.

  13. أصالحُ قل لي متى نلتقي

    فبعضيَ عن بعضهِ يسألُ

    O Salih, tell me: when shall we meet?

    For part of me asks after its other part.

  14. أراكَ تؤيّدني في البيانِ

    كما اتحدَّ الفلبُ والمِقْوَلُ

    I see you supporting me in eloquence,

    as the heart and the tongue unite.

  15. ولولا الفؤادُ وميزاتهُ

    لمالَ اللسانُ فلا يعدلُ

    And were it not for the heart and its special qualities,

    the tongue would lean awry and fail to be just.

  16. ألا أنذرَ الفئةَ الحاسدين

    سيوفاً منا ضربتْ تفصلُ

    Now warn that band of enviers

    of swords of ours whose strokes cleave apart.

  17. وقل للعصافيرِ لا تبرحي

    ولا تمرحي قد هوى الأجدلُ

    And tell the sparrows: do not leave,

    nor frolic—the falcon has swooped down.

  18. عجبتُ لهمْ وعجيبٌ إذا

    عجبتُ لمن لم يكنْ يعقلُ

    I wondered at them—and it is strange if

    I wonder at someone who had no sense.

  19. وما يستوي الجفنُ فيه الغبار

    وإن أشبهَ الكحلَ والأكحلُ

    And a dust-filled eyelid is not equal—

    though the dust resembles kohl—to a naturally dark-rimmed one.

  20. هم نخلوني فماذا رأوا

    اَأَمسكَ نورَ الضُّحى المنخلُ

    They sifted me—what, then, did they see?

    Did the sieve catch the light of midmorning?

  21. وثارَ الغبارُ فيا أفقُ هلْ

    جلا لكَ مرآتكَ الصيقلُ

    And dust rose; so, O horizon, has

    the polisher burnished your mirror for you?

  22. وأقبلَ فار فما للجبال

    لم يلقَ عاليها الأسفلُ

    And a mouse approached—what ails the mountains,

    that their base has not met their summit?

  23. وكيفَ يخيفُ الهلالَ الدجى

    ويرهبُ عنترةَ المنصلُ

    And how can darkness frighten the crescent moon,

    and the sword-blade terrify Antarah?

  24. رأوا ليَ في حكمتي ثانية

    كما ينظرُ الواحدَ الأحولُ

    They saw a second wisdom beside mine,

    as a cross-eyed man sees a single thing double.