بروحي الَّتي زارَت بليلٍ فَقابَلَت
عُيوناً بَراها السُهدُ وَالأَعيُن الوُطفِ
My soul be ransom for her who came by night and encountered
eyes worn thin by sleeplessness, with her luxuriantly lashed eyes.
فَعاجَلتها باللثمِ عِظماً لردفِها
وَعالجتُها باللِينِ مِنّي وَبِاللُطفِ
I swiftly fell upon her with kisses, honoring her rump,
and coaxed her with gentleness on my part and tender care.
وَقُلتُ أَرى وَرداً بِخدِّكِ ذابِلاً
أَلا فإذني باللَثم فيهِ وَبِالقَطفِ
I said, “I see a rose upon your cheek, wilting;
come, then—give me leave to kiss it and to pluck it.
وَعِطفاً تَثنّى ناعِماً ذا لُدُنَّةٍ
فَما بِالُه لا يَنثَني لي بِالقَطفِ
And I see a waist that sways gracefully, endowed with suppleness—
what ails it, that it will not bend toward me to be plucked?
لَجَمَّعتُ بَدراً وَالنَقا وَأَراكةً
بنورِ المُحيّا مِنكِ وَالرِدفِ وَالعِطفِ
I would have gathered together a full moon, a dune, and an arak tree
in your radiant countenance, your rump, and your waist.”
وَلما رَأت ما بي وَأَطربَ سَمعَها
نسيبيَ فيها قبَّلتني بِالخَطفِ
And when she saw what afflicted me, and her ear was charmed by
my love verse about her, she kissed me in a stolen instant.
فَيا لَكِ مِنها قُبلةً لَو تمكَّنت
لَقَد كانَ بردُ الريقِ حَرَّ الحَشا يطفي
Ah, what a kiss of hers you were! If only you had endured,
the coolness of her saliva would indeed have quenched the fire within.
وَولَّت فَأَبقَت في فُؤادي وَمُقلَتي
جَحيماً وَدَمعاً لا يَمَلُّ مِن النَطفِ
Then she turned away, leaving within my heart and in my eye
an inferno, and tears that never weary of falling drop by drop.
Sol 5.6