قَد كانَ ما بِيَ قَبلَ رُؤيَتِكُم

يا عُثمَ مِن وَجدٍ بِكُم يَكفي

What afflicted me before ever seeing you,

O ʿUthm—the delirium of passion for you—was enough.

حَتّى أَتيتُكِ يا عُثَيمَةُ زائِراً

أَمشي عَلى عَمدٍ إِلى حَتفي

Until I came to you, O ʿUthayma, as a visitor,

walking deliberately toward my death.

فَازددتُ أَحزاناً عَلى حَزنٍ

مِنكُم مُنِيتُ بِهِ عَلى ضَعفي

Then sorrow upon sorrow increased within me—

an affliction dealt me by you while I was weak.

فَالدَمعُ مِنّي وَاكِفٌ سَرِبٌ

كَالغَربِ يُنزَعُ دائِمَ الوَكفِ

My tears pour from me in a streaming fall,

like a great well-bucket, forever drawn up dripping.

في الخَدِّ تُحدِرُهُ الشُؤُونُ

لَهُ سَيلٌ تَبادِرُ سَكبُهُ كَفّى

Down the cheek the tear-ducts send them tumbling;

theirs is a torrent whose outpouring my palm hastens to catch.

مِن نَظرَةٍ خالَستُها بَلَغَت

ما زادَ مِن نَعتٍ عَلى وَصفي

All from one glance I stole at her: it attained

a beauty beyond whatever praise my words could add.

تَرنُو بِعَينَي جُؤذَرٍ خَرِقٍ

أَحوى المَدامشعِ فاتِرِ الطَرفِ

She gazes with the eyes of a startled gazelle-fawn,

dark-rimmed at the tear-wells, languid of gaze.

فَخَرَجتُ لَم أَبثُتكُمُ حَزَني

وَدَعَوتُ بِالحَسَراتِ وَاللَهفِ

So I left without confiding my sorrow to you,

and cried out in heartbreak and anguish.

يا رَبِّ إِني قَد شَقِيتُ بِها

فَالطُف فَإِنَّكَ رَبِّ ذُو لُطفِ

My Lord, I have indeed been made wretched through her;

be gentle—for You, my Lord, are possessed of gentleness.

عُلِّقتُها خَوداً بَرَهرَهَةً

رابٍ مُؤَزَّرُها مِنَ اللَفِّ

I became enamored of her—a tender, full-bodied maiden,

her girdled form swelling with rounded fullness.

تَلوي النَصِيفَ إِذا لَوَتهُ عَلى

جَثلِ النَباتِ مُعَثكَلٍ وَحفِ

She winds the veil, when she draws it over

a thick growth of hair, clustered and luxuriant.