1. أيُّ ذنبٍ جنيتُ حتى تجنى

    إنني كدتُ بعدهُ أن أجِنَّا

    What sin have I committed, that he should wrong me?

    Indeed, in his absence I nearly went mad.

  2. كلُّ يومٍ أظلُّ أسالُ عنهُ

    من أراهُ وليسَ يسألُ عنا

    Each day, about him I keep asking

    everyone I see; yet he never asks about us.

  3. ألفَ البخلَ لا يردُّ سلامي

    وتناسى أيامَ كانَ وكنَّا

    He has grown used to stinginess; he does not return my greeting,

    and has deliberately forgotten the days when he and we were together.

  4. وأرى كُتْبهُ دوائي على البعدِ

    من الشوقِ والجفاءِ فَضَنَّا

    And from afar I see his letters as my cure

    for longing and estrangement—yet he withheld them.

  5. لا أرى طيفهُ ولا الدارَ تدنو

    فأرهُ ولا الصبابةُ تفنى

    I do not see his phantom, nor does the dwelling draw near,

    so that I may see him; nor does passion perish.

  6. أيها الدائمُ التجني علينا

    زادكَ اللهُ في تجنيكَ حسنا

    O you who constantly wrong us,

    may God increase your beauty in your cruelty.

  7. ربما مرَّ للمحبِّ زمانٌ

    نالَ فيهِ المحبُّ ما قدْ تمنى

    Perhaps the lover once knew a time

    when he attained what he had wished for.

  8. قد رأى الناسُ فيهِ قيساً وقِساً

    وأرتهمُ عيناكَ ليلى ولبنى

    People saw in him Qays and Qiss,

    and your two eyes showed them Layla and Lubna.

  9. ورميتُ الدُّجى بساهرةِ الليلِ

    تفيضُ الدموعَ وجداً وحزنا

    And I assailed the darkness with an eye awake through the night,

    pouring out tears of yearning and sorrow.

  10. فتحتْ جفنها فطارَ كراها

    وبكتْهُ فليسَ تغمضُ جفنا

    It opened its eyelid, and its slumber took flight;

    and it wept for him, so it never closes an eyelid.

  11. إن تعشْ يرجعِ المنامُ إليها

    أو تمتْ بعدها ففي الحبِّ متنا

    If it lives, sleep will return to it;

    or if it dies thereafter, then we shall have died in love.