روحي بِقُربِكَ قَد نالَت مِنَ الاِربِ

ما تَرضيهِ فَمرها في الهَوى تجب

My soul, through nearness to you, has attained its desire.

Whatever pleases you, command it in love, and it will obey.

فَضَع يَمينُكَ فَضلا فَوقَ مهجَتِها

تكف بِالكَف ما عانَتهُ مِن وَصب

Graciously lay your right hand over its very lifeblood,

and with that palm ward off the pain it has endured.

لا تُنكِرَن مَزايا الحُب اِن لَهُ

في الراحَتَينِ لَراحات من التَعَب

Never deny the virtues of love, for it holds

in those two palms relief from weariness.

وَاِنظُر تَر الصَب مَلقى لا حِراك بِهِ

باك تَردد بَين الماءِ وَاللَهب

Look: you will see the lover cast down, motionless,

tossed, because of you, between water and flame.

من روح رَبِّكَ روح قَد خَصَّصَت بِها

فَاِمنَح بِها مُهجَة اِن تَلتَفِت تجب

A spirit from your Lord—a spirit with which you were singled out—

with it, grant life to a heart; if you turn toward it, it will answer.

لا تَبخَلَن عَلى نَفس فديت بِها

وَأَنعِشن بِها قَلبي مِنَ النَصب

Do not withhold it from a soul I sacrificed for you;

with it, revive my heart from exhaustion.

وَقُل لاِنسانك الجاني عَلى تَلَفى

بِأَي ذَنبٍ لِقَتلي زدت في الطَلب

And say to the pupil of your eye, guilty of my undoing:

“For what sin did you redouble your pursuit of killing me?”

نَصبت لَحظا لِقَلب مؤمن كلف

فَصارَ في الحُبِّ مُهديا اِلى النَصبِ

You trained a glance upon the heart of a love-struck believer,

and in love it was guided only toward suffering.

بِمَوسِم الاِنس سَيف اللَحظِ جرده

وَهَزَّ نَحوي قَواما في الدَلالِ رَبّي

In the season of intimacy, he unsheathed the sword of his glance

and brandished it toward me—he whose figure was reared in coy grace.

أَلزَمتُهُ وَهُوُ وسنان الهَوى ديتي

فَأَسدَل الهَدب لي عَجبا وَلَم يجب

I charged him, drowsy with love, with payment of my blood-price;

he lowered his lashes before me in wonder and did not answer.

جَدواكَ بِالعَفوُ مُذ جَلَت مَآثِرها

تَسمو عَلى كُل ما يَسمو مِن الرتب

Your true bounty is pardon, since its noble deeds have shone,

rising above every rank that rises.

نَحنُ الخُلود مِن العُشّاق اِن رَشَفت

تِلكَ الثَنايا وَما في ذاكَ من عَجَب

We are the immortals among lovers, if

those front teeth sip from us—and in that there is no wonder.

شَفا شَفاهِك مِنهُ الصَب يا أَملي

في غنية عَن طَبيب حاذِق وَغبي

Your lips healed the lover of it, O my hope,

leaving him in need of neither skilled physician nor fool.

أَعزك اللَه بلغ ما أَتيت بِهِ

بِعادِل لوثثني قيل أَنتَ نبي

May God exalt you—carry through what I have brought

past a reproacher: if he turned me back, they would say, “You are a prophet.”

فَأمة العِشق لاقَت في الغَرامِ لَظى

كَأَنَّما قَد تَبناهُم أَبو لَهب

The nation of lovers has met a blaze in passion,

as though Abu Lahab had adopted them.

أَتَت لحيك الأَبصارِ شاخِصَة

يَستَشفعون بِذاك العادل الرطب

Eyes came to your quarter, fixed and staring,

seeking intercession through that tender, just one.

فَاِدرَأ بِعَفوِكَ ما لاقوهُ مِن سعر

وَاِحكُم كَما تَرتَضى في الحُب وَاِنتَخِب

By your pardon, then, ward off the flames they have met;

judge as you please in love, and choose.

صفت موازين زفرات بِهِم لَعِبت

في مَحشَرِ الحُب ما مالَت اِلى الرَيب

The balances of sighs that played with them stood true

at love’s great assembly, never inclining toward doubt.

بِعِزة الحُب قُل لي هَل رَأَيت بِهِم

ما قَد رَأَيت مِنَ المَحسوبِ في النَسَب

By love’s might, tell me: have you seen among them

what you have seen among those reckoned noble by lineage?

حب وَصبر وَحِرمان وَحر جوى

وَمَدمَع وَسهاد دائِم الوَصب

Love, patience, deprivation, and passion’s scorching heat,

tears and sleeplessness, and pain without end.

لا تَلقني بِسَعير اِنَّني دنف

فيما شَكَوت الهَوى وَالوَجد لَم أَعب

Do not cast me into a blaze; I am heartsick:

though I complained of love and longing, I cast no blame.

أَعيذ لطفك من ظُلم تَكون بِهِ

بَينَ الأَنامِ شَهير الاِسم وَاللَقب

I call on your gentleness to be spared an injustice by which you would become

notorious among humankind in both name and epithet.

أَعاذَكَ اللَهُ مِن يَوم أَراكَ بِهِ

مِثلي وَحوشيت من أَني أَقيسك بي

May God protect you from a day when I see you there

with one like me—far be it from me to compare you with myself—

حَيث النُفوسَ أَقرت بِالَّتي صَنَعت

وَهم سُكارى لِما يَخشون مِن عَطب

when souls confess what they have done,

drunk with fear of the ruin they dread.

وَحق حُبك لَو في البَعثِ يُمكُنُني

كَتم الشَهادَة لَم أَخرج عَن الادَب

By the truth of your love, if at the Resurrection I could

conceal my testimony, I would not stray from courtesy.

لكنَّني بِاِعتِذار مِنكَ في خَجَل

اِذ قالَ لا تَكتُموا لِلعَجمِ وَالعَرب

Yet I stand ashamed, apologizing to you,

since He said, “Do not conceal it, before non-Arabs and Arabs.”

فَقالَ لي بِرُموز مِن لَواحِظِهِ

بعد اِبتِسام وَما أَبداهُ مِن طَرَب

Then he spoke to me in the signs of his glances,

after a smile and the delight he revealed:

أَراكَ قَد جِئتَ عَمّا قُلتَ مُعتَذِرا

وَاِن عُذرُكَ لِلاِحسان لَم يُصِب

“I see you have come apologizing for what you said,

but your excuse has missed the path of graciousness.

يَمحو الجَليلَ عَظيم الاِعتِداء اِذا

ما سامَحَ الخَصم بِالاِخلاص فَاِتئب

The Majestic One effaces even grave transgression when

the injured party sincerely forgives—so repent.”

أَبَحت يا مَعشَرَ العُشّاقِ فَاِستَمِعوا

دمى لِهذا الرَشا طَوعا وَحق أَبي

I declare, O company of lovers—listen!—

my blood lawful to this gazelle, willingly, by my father’s honor.