1. أأخشاهُ جفناً ما تُسَلُّ قواضِبُهُ

    وحدُّ حسامي ما تُفَلُّ مضاربهْ

    Should I fear it—an eyelid whose cutting blades are never drawn—

    While my sword's striking edges are never blunted?

  2. فأين يدي هاتيكَ والسيفُ في يدي

    وما لفؤادي أنكرتهُ جوانبهْ

    Then where is that hand of mine, though the sword is in my hand?

    And what ails my heart? Its own sides have disowned it.

  3. وما لي كأنَ الكهرباءُ تمسني

    إذا لاحَ ذاكَ البدرُ أو نم حاجبهْ

    And what ails me, as though electricity were touching me,

    Whenever that full moon appears, or its eyebrow gives a hint?

  4. أروني فؤادي كيفَ صدعهُ الأسى

    وكيفَ تولاهُ الهوى ومصائبهْ

    Show me my heart—how sorrow has split it,

    And how passion and its calamities have taken hold of it.

  5. إذا كانَ قلبي لا يصاحبُ همتي

    فما هو لي قلبٌ ولا أنا صاحبهْ

    If my heart does not keep company with my resolve,

    Then it is no heart of mine, nor am I its companion.

  6. ركبتُ لحيني في الترامِ عشيةً

    أرى الفلكَ الدوارَ لاحتْ كواكبهْ

    I rode the tram one evening, to my doom,

    Watching the revolving firmament, its stars coming into view,

  7. وأحسبهُ قلباً يجاذبهُ الهوى

    فينقادُ لا يدري بما هو جاذبهْ

    And imagining it a heart that passion tugs at,

    So it yields, unaware of what is drawing it.

  8. فلاحتْ لعيني من زواياهُ غادةٌ

    هي البدرُ لكنْ أطلعتْهُ مغاربهْ

    Then from its corners a graceful maiden appeared to my eyes;

    She was the full moon, yet its western horizons had made it rise.

  9. تبسمُ أحياناً وتعبسُ تارةً

    كما يخدعُ الواهي القوى من يحاربهْ

    She smiled at times and frowned at others,

    As one feeble in strength deceives whoever fights him.

  10. وقد كتبتُ فوقَ المحاجرِ آيةً

    يطالعُ فيها الحبُ من لا تخاطبهْ

    And I had written a verse above the eye sockets;

    In it, Love studies those she does not address.

  11. فلما رآها القلبُ آمنَ واغتدى

    يكاتبها في أضلعي وتكاتبهْ

    When the heart saw her, it believed and began

    Writing to her within my ribs, while she wrote back to it.

  12. فما أنا إلا والهوى يستفزني

    إلى حيثُ سلطان الهوى عزَّ جانبهْ

    There I was, with passion urging me on

    To where passion's sovereign stood unassailable.

  13. فقمتُ قيامَ الليثِ فارقَ غيلهُ

    وقد حُطِّمتْ أنياهُ ومخالبهْ

    So I rose like a lion that had left its thicket,

    Though its fangs and claws had been shattered.

  14. وسلمتُ تسليمَ البشاشةِ والهوى

    تدبُّ على أطرافِ قلبي عقاربهْ

    And I offered a cheerful greeting, while passion's

    Scorpions crept along the edges of my heart.

  15. فأغضتْ حياءً ثمَّ عادتْ فسلمتْ

    ومن بعدِ كدرِ الماءِ تصفو مشاربهُ

    She lowered her eyes in shyness, then turned back and greeted me;

    And after water's murkiness, its drinking places grow clear.

  16. فللّهِ ما أحلى حديثاً سمعتهُ

    كأني يتيمٌ لاطفتهُ أقاربهْ

    By God, how sweet was the conversation I heard!

    As though I were an orphan whose kin had treated him tenderly.

  17. هو الخمرُ لولا طعمها وخمارُها

    هو السحرُ لولا ذمَّهُ ومعائبُهُ

    It was wine, but without its taste or hangover;

    It was magic, but without its censure or flaws.

  18. فقلتُ عرفتُ الحبَّ واللهِ أنهُ

    مطالبُ قلبٍ لا تُحَدُّ مطالبهْ

    So I said, 'I have known love; by God, it is

    The demands of a heart whose demands have no limit.'

  19. فقالتْ بلى إن شئتَ زدتُكَ أنهُ

    نوائبُ دهرٍ لا تُعَدُّ نوائبهْ

    She said, 'Yes; if you wish, I will add that it is

    The calamities of time, whose calamities cannot be counted.'

  20. فكاشفتها مابي غراماً مبرحاً

    يغالبني فيهِ النُّهى وأغالبهْ

    So I revealed to her what ailed me: an agonizing passion,

    Over which reason wrestled with me, and I wrestled with it.

  21. وقلتُ ارى ذا القلبِ جُنَّ جنونهُ

    وإلا فماذا في ضلوعي يواثبهْ

    And I said, 'I think this heart has gone utterly mad;

    Otherwise, what is springing at it within my ribs?'

  22. فهزتْ قواماً كالرديني مشرعاً

    وحينَ أحسُّ الشعرَ ماجتْ كتائبهْ

    Then she swayed her figure like a leveled Rudayni spear,

    And when I felt poetry, its battalions surged.

  23. وأعجَبَها ما قلتهُ فتَضَاحكَتْ

    كأني طفلٌ في يديها تلاعبهْ

    What I said delighted her, so she laughed,

    As though I were a child in her hands, whom she was playing with.

  24. وقد كانَ صدري أطفأ اليأسَ نورهُ

    فأصبحَ مثلَ الليلِ طارتْ غياهِبهْ

    And my breast's light had quenched despair;

    Then it became like night, its darkness flown away.

  25. وقالتْ أخافُ الناسَ فالناسُ في الهوى

    لئيمٌ نداري أو عذولٌ نراقبهْ

    She said, 'I fear people; in matters of love, they are

    Scoundrels we placate, or reprovers we keep an eye on.'

  26. وعادتْ تروعُ القلبَ لم تدرِ أنني

    شديدُ مناطِ القلبِ صلبٌ ترائبهْ

    Again she frightened my heart, not knowing that I was

    Firm in the heart's tether, hard in its breastbones.

  27. ولما رأتني هائماً غيرَ هائبٍ

    سواها وقدماً ضيعَ الصيدُ هائبُهْ

    And when she saw me infatuated, fearing no one

    But her—and long has the timid hunter let his quarry slip—

  28. تولتْ وقالتْ تلكَ عاقبةُ الهوى

    وبعدَ صدورِ الأمرِ تأتي عواقبهْ

    She turned away and said, 'Such is the outcome of love.'

    And once a deed is done, its consequences follow.

  29. فغادرتْ قلبي في الترامواي وحدهُ

    ينادي ولكنْ من عساهُ يجاوبهْ

    So she left my heart alone in the tram,

    Calling out—but who might answer it?

  30. وعشتُ بلا قلبٍ وعفتُ هوى الدُّمى

    ولا يردعِ الإنسانَ إلا تجاربهْ

    And I lived without a heart, shunning the love of dolls;

    And nothing restrains a person but their own experiences.