أقول لقومٍ لا تقيد نصيحتي

لديهم ولو أبديت كل الأدلة

I speak to people who do not heed my advice,

I speak to a people with whom my advice holds no weight,

Though I present every proof.

Even though I have displayed every proof before them.

ألا فاتركوا ورد الخدود وشأنه

فتخديدكم في الخد أقبحُ فعلة

Oh, leave off plucking the roses of your cheeks,

Come now, leave the roses of the cheeks alone,

For your tweezing is the ugliest deed.

For your furrowing of the cheek is the ugliest of deeds.

أيعمد ذو لبّ لخدّ مورّد

ويقسمه عمداً إلى شرّ قسمة

Does one with a blooming cheek

Would a man of intellect target a rosy cheek,

Deliberately divide it into the evilest halves?

And deliberately divide it in the worst of ways?

ومادحُ شرط الخدّ في السود صادقٌ

وأما بخد البيض فالقبح عمدتي

One who praises dimpled cheeks speaks truthfully of dark cheeks,

He who praises the scar upon dark skin speaks the truth,

But for fair cheeks, ugliness is my point.

But on the cheek of the fair, I maintain it is sheer ugliness.

أما يختشي من أن يكون مخدّدا

ويدخل في من حاز أفظع قولة

Does he not fear becoming one who plucks out hairs,

Does he not fear that he himself might be scarred,

And counted among those of the most heinous words?

And fall among those who bear the most dreadful reputation?

فباللحظ لا الموسى تخدّشُ وجنةٌ

فيا ويلتا منه ويا طول حسرتي

With gazing, not tweezers, a cheek is scratched,

For it is by the glance, not the razor, that a cheek should be scratched;

Oh what misery for him! Oh how long my sorrow!

So woe is me because of it, and how long is my sorrow!

وإني لأهوى كلّ خدّ مورّدٍ

زها قطّ لم يمسسه موسى بخدشة

Indeed, I love every blooming cheek

For indeed, I love every rosy cheek

That a tweezer has never touched with a scratch.

That glows radiant, never touched by a razor's scratch.