1. تبسَّم كالبرق لمَّا آئتلق

    رشاً خاتَل القلب حتى آعتلقْ

    He smiled like lightning when it flashed—

    a fawn who beguiled the heart until it was ensnared.

  2. ولاحَ لنا مرسلاً شِعره

    فكانَ الضياء وكان الغسَقْ

    He appeared before us, letting his hair fall loose,

    and he was radiance, and he was dusk.

  3. كأنَّ سنا نوره صارِمُ

    اصيب الصباحُ به ِ فآنفَلَقْ

    As though the gleam of his light were a sharp sword,

    the morning was struck by it and split apart.

  4. فما حاكَ من شعره مطرفاً

    من الليل ِ الاّ وفيه إنخَرَق

    He wove no mantle from his hair,

    of night, without a rent appearing in it.

  5. بدى والثريَّا بأفق السما

    كعنقود فاكهة في طَبق

    He appeared, while the Pleiades on the sky's horizon

    were like a cluster of fruit upon a platter.

  6. فأخجل بدر السما وجههُ

    فذا الطلّ راشح ذاكَ العَرق

    His face put the sky's full moon to shame,

    so this dew is that sweat seeping forth.

  7. وجنَّ سهيل الى وجنتَيه

    فها هو في الافق ِ رهن القلق

    And Suhayl grew mad with longing for his cheeks;

    there he is on the horizon, captive to unrest.

  8. يجورُ النطّاق على خصرهِ

    فها هو منذعر المنتطَق

    The girdle presses cruelly upon his waist,

    so there he is, his girdled waist trembling.

  9. بخَدٌيهِ وردُ زها زهرَهُ

    لِما قد سقَته القلوب العلق

    On his cheeks is a rose, its bloom resplendent,

    for hearts have watered it with blood.

  10. أقام به خالّه حارساً

    يذود عن الزهر سحر الحدق

    He stationed his beauty spot there as a guard,

    warding the eyes' spell away from the blossoms.

  11. فصُنه بنهديك هب إنٌهُ

    صَلا نار خدّيك حتى احترق

    So protect it with your breasts; suppose that it

    has endured your cheeks' fire until it burned.

  12. فقد ماج ماء الصبا فيهما

    ألم تخشَ ان يعتريه الغَرقْ

    For the water of youth has surged in them;

    do you not fear that drowning may overtake it?

  13. رشاً خامر السكر إخلاقَهُ

    فبات يُرى فيه مثل النَزقْ

    A fawn whose nature was steeped in drunkenness,

    so something like recklessness could be seen in him.

  14. ثناياهُ والواو من صِدغِه

    هما علَّمانيَ عطف النسَق

    His front teeth and the waw-shaped curl at his temple—

    those two taught me grammatical coordination.

  15. فبتُ ّ ومن ريقهِ خمرتي

    ولم أحتسي كاس ساق ٍ رَهَق

    So I passed the night, my wine drawn from his saliva,

    and did not sip a dissolute cupbearer's cup.

  16. ولم اسأم ِ الراح لكنّني

    تركتُ الرقيق َ بأخذ الأرقّ

    Nor had I tired of wine, but I

    forsook the delicate for the more delicate still.

  17. سقى بقعة الكرخ من ملعبٍ

    ملث القطار مُديم الغَدَق

    May that spot in Karkh, a playground, be watered

    by a cloud of steady showers, sustaining abundant rain,

  18. سكوب يحاكي بتسكابِه

    غُروب السواقي اذ ما اندفق

    pouring forth, its pouring imitating

    the buckets of waterwheels whenever it gushes.

  19. فلي عندها لا درتْ عُذ ّلي

    فتاة ٌ تضيء ضياء الفلق

    For I have there—may my reproachers never know—

    a maiden who shines with the radiance of daybreak,

  20. على انها لم تنلني سِوى

    شهيّ المقّبل والمُعتنَق

    although she granted me nothing but

    delightful kisses and embraces.

  21. وكنّا رضيعي لبان الهوى

    لنا كلُ ّ ما راق منه ورَق

    And we were two nurslings of love's milk;

    all that was pleasing and tender in it was ours.

  22. ومذ جاء حق الحجى بالمشيب

    وكان الصبا باطلاً قد زهق

    And when reason's truth came with gray hair,

    and youth was a falsehood that had vanished,

  23. لَوتْ جيدَها والهوى عاكِف

    وذلك باق ٍ بقاء الرَمَق

    she turned her neck away, while love stayed fast,

    and that endures as long as life's last breath.

  24. ومذ فلق الشَّيب قد حفّ بي

    تلَتْ قُل اعوذ بربّ الفلق

    And when the dawn of gray hair had gathered around me,

    she recited: 'Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak.'