وَشادنٍ مُكْتَحِلٍ بِسِحْر

أَجْفانُهُ سَكرى بغيرِ خَمْرِ

A slender and magical-eyed one

Whose eyelids are intoxicated without wine

أَرَقُّ مِنْ رِقَّةِ ماءٍ يَجْري

أَمْلك بي مِنِّي وَلَيْسَ يَدْري

More gentle than gently flowing water

He has power over me beyond my own will

كَأَنَّهُ يقْتُلُني بِأَمْري

آلَيْتُ لا أَمْلِكُ عنهُ صَبري

It's as if he kills me by my own command

I've decided I cannot restrain myself from him

أَوْ أَسْتَرِدَّ ما مَضى مِنْ عُمْري

نادَمْتُهُ قَبْلَ طُلوعِ الفَجْرِ

Or regain my past life

I blamed him before dawn's rise

في قَمَرٍ كَأَنَّهُ ابْنُ بَدْر

في ضَوءِ وَصْلٍ وَظَلامِ هَجْرِ

In a moon like the son of the full moon

In the light of union and darkness of separation

كَأَنَّهُ إِذْ قِسْتُهُ بِفِكْري

لِأَرْبَعٍ تَخَلَّفَتْ مِنْ شَهْرِ

It's as if, when I measured him in my thoughts

He missed being four months

في طُولِهِ وَعَرضِهِ بِفِتْر

حَلَّ بِهِ ما حَلَّ بي من ضُرِّ

In his height and width in moderation

What befell me of harm befell him