سقى الله عهداً بالحمى قد تقدَّما

وعَيشاً تقضّى ما ألَذَّ وأنعَما

God watered a covenant with passion that brought us together

And a living through which the most delicious and blissful is fulfilled

تعاطيتُ فيه الراح تمزج باللمى

وعفراء سكرى المقلتين كأنَّما

I partook in it of comfort mixed with affliction

And an intoxicated blonde whose glances are as if

سقتها الندامى من سلافة أشعاري

لَهَوْتُ بها والدهر مستعذب الجنى

They were given to drink from the wine of my predecessors' poetry

I sported with it while time's refuge was sweet

ونلتُ كما أهوى بوصلي لها المنى

ولم أنْسَها كالغصن إذ مال وانثنى

And I attained as I love, my wishes for her fulfilled

And I did not forget her as the branch when it leaned and bent

تمرُّ مع الأتراب بالخَيف من مِنى

مرورَ المعاني في مفاوز أفكاري

Passing by the loved ones in the afternoon from Mina

Like meanings passing through the expanses of my thoughts

وبيضٍ عذارى من لويٍّ وغالبِ

كواعبَ أترابٍ فيا للكواعبِ

And innocent white ones from smooth and soft

Like the coevals of loved ones - so for the coevals!

تَخُطِّينَ في أبهى خُطاً متقاربِ

وعَفِّين آثار الخُطا بذوائبِ

Stepping in the most magnificent step, close

And covering the traces of steps with tails

كما قد عَفَتْ في منزل الذلِّ آثاري

إذا نظَرَتْ سلَّت بألحاظها الظبا

As it covered in the abode of humility the traces of me

When she looked, her glances unleashed gazelles

وإن خَطَرت كانت كما خطر القنا

فما نَظَرتْ إلاَّ بأبيض يُنتضى

And when she appeared, she was like the appearance of the flag

She did not look except with whiteness to be copied

ولا خَطَرَتْ إلاَّ وتذكّرتُ في الوغى

بهام خطير القدر ميلة خطّاري

Nor did she appear unless I remembered in tumult

The perilous fateful glance of my tilting specifier

كأنِّي بها ما بينَ أختٍ وضرّةٍ

إليَّ بأسرار الغرام أسَرَّتِ

As if with her what is between a sister and a wife

She confided to me with the secrets of passion

أضيمَتْ كضَيْمي بين قومي وأُسْرتي

ومن ضَيْمها كادَت تبيحُ طمرَّتي

She was straitened like my straitness among my people and my family

And from her straitness she almost made lawful my concealment

من الضَّيْم ما أخفَيْتُه تحت أطماري

أمضَّ هواها في فؤادي وما حوى

From the straitness I hid beneath my pretendings

Her love passed in my heart and whatever it contained

سوى حبّها حتَّى أُليم فما ارعوى

وقد سألتْ عمَّا أُلاقي من الجوى

Apart from her love until I was pained but did not argue

And she asked about what I face from burning

فَرُحْتُ إليها أشتكي مضض الهوى

كما شَكت الأقلام مني إلى الباري

So I went to her complaining of the torment of passion

As the pens complained from me to the Creator

رَأتْ فَتَياتُ الحيّ عَيني وَوَبْلَها

فأكْثَرْنَ بالتأنيب إذ ذاك عَذْلَها

The girls of the neighborhood saw my eyes and their confusion

So they increased then in reproaching her their blaming

فَرُحْتُ وقد أجْرَتْ لها العينُ سَيْلَها

وجاراتها راحَتْ مُؤَنِّبة لها

I was glad when the eye unlocked its floods for her

And her female neighbors went reproaching her

على ما جرى في السفح من مدمعي الجاري

أهيمُ بمرآها وحسن قوامها

For what occurred in the plain from my streaming tears

I wander about her mirror and the beauty of her figure

وإنِّي لمعذورٌ بمثل هيامها

وكم ليلةٍ قد بِتُّ جنح ظلامها

And indeed I am excusable for the like of my infatuation

And how many a night have I spent its darkness

يسامرني طول الدجى من غرامها

سميرٌ أُناغي في معانيه سُمّاري

Keeping me company all night long from her passion

A conversation I whisper to in its meanings my murmurer

إذا قَرُبَتْ من ناظري أو تأخَّرَتْ

ففي صورة الشَّمس المنيرة صُوِّرَتْ

When she drew near my sight or was delayed

She was depicted in the image of the shining sun

متى أسْفَرَتْ عن وجهها أو تَستَّرَتْ

على قربها منِّي إذا هي أسْفَرَتْ

Whether she revealed her face or veiled

In her nearness to me when she reveal it

يباعدُ منها الحسنُ ما بين أسفاري

لها مقلةٌ كالمشرفيِّ شباتُها

Beauty distances from her what between my journeys

She has a gaze like the youth of its shooting

لعقيدة صَبري أوهَنَتْ نفثاتُها

إذا ما رَنَتْ أو رُتّلت كلماتها

To my patience's certainty her breaths weakened

If she rang or intoned her words

لرقّةِ سِحْري تنتمي لحظاتُها

وألفاظُها تُعزى لرقَّةِ أشعاري

For the softness of my sorcery her moments belong

And her words attributed to the softness of my poetry