لَقَد أَرسَلَت لَيلى رَسُولاً بِأَن أَقمِ

وَلا تَقرَبَنّا فَالتَجَنُّبُ أَمثَلُ

Layla sent a messenger that I stay aloof,

And not go near you all, that is best to do,

لَعَلَّ العُيُونَ الرامِقات لِوُدِّنا

تُكَذَّبُ عَنّا أَو تَنامُ فَتُغفَلُ

Lest prying eyes watch our love,

And belie us or in slumber miss the clue.

أُناسٌ امِنّاهُم فَنَثُّوا حَدِيثَنا

فَلَمّا كَتَمنا السِرَّ عَنهُم تَقَوَّلُوا

Some we trusted, to whom our secret we told,

When from them our love we hid, turned disloyal,

فَما حَفظُوا العَهدَ الَّذي كانَ بَينَنا

وَلا حِينَ هَمُّوا بِالقَطيعَةِ أَجمَلُوا

Not one of them the covenant upheld,

Nor tried, when they sought to break with us, gentler style.

فَإِن نِساءً قَد تَحَدَّثنَ أَنَّنا

عَلى عَهدِنا وَالعَهدُ إِن دامَ أَجمَلُ

For women gossiped that to our vows we were fast bound,-

فَقُلت وَقَد ضاقَت بِلادي برُحبِها

عَلَيَّ لَما قَد قِيلَ وَالعَينُ تَهمِلُ

Yet such vows, if prolonged, turn interest cold.

Then I said, when my land seemed to me too strait around:

سَأَجتَنِبُ الدارَ الَّتي أنتُمُ بِها

وَلَكنَّ طَرفي نَحوَها سَوفَ يَعمَلُ

I am pressed by what is told; though eyes may getting old.

أَلم تَعلَمي أَني وَهَل نافِعي

لَدَيكِ وَما أُخفي مِن الوَجد فصَلُ

Your abode I shall shun, I said, yet my eyes thereto bend,

Know you not my profit lies with you, nor what love I spend?

أُرى مُستَقيم الطَرفِ ما الطَرفُ أَمَّكُم

وَإِن أَمَّ طَرفي غَيرَكُم فَهوَ أَحوَلُ

I seem to turn straight eyes, but turn them not, on other men,

And if my eyes turn elsewhere, twisted are they then.

صَحاحُبُّ مَن يَهوى وَأَخلَقَهُ البِلى

وَحُبُّكِ في مَكنُونِ قَلبي مُطَّللُ

True are lovers whose love decay and time rend;

And my love in heart's core folded lies secret and sched.

وَبُحتُ بِما قَد وَسَّعَ الناسُ ذِكرَهُ

وَأَكثَرُهُ في الصَدرِ مِنيِّ مُزَمَّلُ

I have told what widespread rumour widened and said,

And most of it in my breast bundled lies hid and read.

وَما بُحتُ إِلّا أَن نَسِيتُ وَإِنَّما

بِهِ كُلُّ مَن يَهوى هَوىً يَتَمَثَّلُ

I told only that I forgot; lovers in image dwell

Of those they love, and after that fashion I as well.

فَلا تُجمِعي أَن تَحبِسيني وَتمطلي

أَأُححبَس عَن أَرضي هُديتِ وَأُمطَلُ

So bar me not, nor long delay around me cast,

Shall I from land I love be prisoned and passed?

فَإِنَّ ثَوائي عِندَكُم لا أَزوُرُكُم

وَلا أَنا مَردُودٌ بِيَأسٍ مُزَحَّلُ

No visit of yours can I see in my place;

I am not one banned in despair to move or race.

وَلا أَنا مَحبُوسٌ لِوَعدٍ فَأَرتَجي

وَلا أَنا مَردُودٌ بِيَأسٍ فَأَرحَلُ

No captive I in promise that I stay and bide,

Nor banned and despairing again afar to ride,

كَمُقتَنِصٍ صَيداً يَراهُ بِعَينِهِ

يُطيفُ بِهِ مِن قُر بِهِ وَهُوَ أَعزَلُ

Like a hunter who eyes in the plain his game,

Now circles near, while it is he weaponless and lame,

وَمُمتَرِسٍ بِالماءِ أَحرَقَهُ الظَما

تَحَلّا فَلا يَندى وَلا هُوَ مُمَثَلُ

Like a man at the pool the noon sun makes sick and burn,

He seeks the shade, but shade he finds not, nor place to turn.

فَفِي بَعضِ هَذا اليضوم لِلنَّفسِ بَينُها

وَأَيُّ طَريقَيها إِلى المَوتِ أَسهَلُ

In these fortunes the soul its death and life may scan,

And which of the two roads to death for it easier ran.

أَتَصدُرُ بِالداءِ الَّذي وَرَدَت بِهِ

فَتَهلكُ أَم تَثوي كَذا لا تُنَوَّلُ

Shall I bear the hurt wherewith you my peace disturb and mar,

So you may destroy me, or dwell untroubled thus far?

وَكَم لَيلَةٍ طَخياءَ ساقِطَةِ الدُجى

تَهِبُّ الصَبا فيها مِراراً وَتَشملُ

How many a long night whose darkness like dankness spread,

The morning wind scattered, dripped and over us shed,

كَأَنَّ سَقِيطَ الثَلجِ ما حَصَّبَت بِهِ

عَلى الأَرضِ عَصب أَو دَقيقٌ مُغَربَلُ

As if the bursten pipe what it gushed and blew

On earth's face a pebbled and foreign grain bestrew!

لِحُبِّكِ أُسريها وَحُبُّكِ قادَني

إِلَيكِ مَع الأَهوالِ وَالسَيفُ مُخضِلُ

For love of you perils and night raid I sped,

By love of you to you with sword terror led.

رَكِبتُ لَها طِرفاً جَواداً كَأَنَّهُ

إِذا خَبَّ سِرحانُ المَلا حِينَ يَعسِلُ

I rode thereto a steed like tower wind could but stem,

A firm and round-backed steed, when the waterRaft stampede.

أَقَبُّ شَديدُ الصُلبِ تَحسِبُ مَتنَهُ

يُفَرّجُ عَنهُ بِالحَيازِيمِ مُجفِلُ

Stiff of shoulder, you think its back the crowbars cleave,

From its flanks the millstones with their rumbling roll and heave.

لَهُ ثَرَّةٌ تَنهَلُّ مِن جَوفِ رَأسِهِ

تَكاد لَها مِنهُ العُرُوقُ تَبَزَّلُ

Down its forehead the forelock drips; from the vein's gate

Its tendons start, and neck bones swell articulate.

كَما انهَدَّ جَدرٌ مائِلٌ كانَ حَشوَهُ

مَعَ الآجُرِ المَطبُوخِ شِيدٌ وَجَندَلُ

Like a wall whose clay the rain's flood crumbled and drove

With bricks well baked in order bound and grove.

قَرُوصٌ عَلى الآرِيِّ لِلسائِسِ الَّذي

يُطِيفُ بِهِ مُستَأنِسٌ مَتَأكِّلُ

A chestnut-bay the rider tries, and it paces proud, nibbling sweet,

While he strokes it, by its docile tameness fain and fleet.

نَشِيطٌ وَلَم يُخلَق صَوُولاً كَأَنَّهُ

بِهِ مازِحٌ لِعّابُهُ يَتَبَطَّلُ

Proud of neck, and fine of coat, it tasted not iron in heat,

Nor watched night the while for it saddle and breastplate meet.

عَرِيض الوَظيفِ مُكرَبُ القَصِّ لَم يَذُق

حَديداً وَلَم يَسهَر لَهُ اللَيل أَبجَلُ

If horses fail of men's hardness and their toils to greet,

Then their rider against war's brunt mailed is complete.

إِذا لَم تُطِق خَيلٌ أَداةَ رِجالِها

فَفارِسُهُ مِن شِكَّةِ الحَربِ مُكملُ

As we circle, lofty its mien seems to display

A grandeur, as of a king in his pride and sway.

كَأَنّا نُداري حِينَ نَسرُو جِلالُهُ

بِهِ مَلِكاً مِن عِزَّةٍ يَتَخَيُّلُ

It agrees with its fashioning, and is stablished at rest,

Pleased with its making, like He who made it, blest.

وَيَرضى بَصِيرٌ خَلقَهُ وَهوَ مُدبِرٌ

كَما هُوَ راضٍ خَلقَهُ وَهُوَ مُقبِلُ

On its like did Layla and her family press,

Death drew nigh them, but God gives aid and redress!

عَلى مِثلِهِ أَنتابُ لَيلى وَأَهلَها

وَآتى الوَغى وَاللَهُ يَكفي وَيَحمِلُ