أَبى القَلبُ إِلّا أُمَّ عَمروٍ وَما أَرى
نَواها وَإِن طالَ التَذَكُّرُ تُسعِفُ
My heart craved only Umm ‘Amr, though I saw not
The heart refuses all but Umm Amr, though I see not her distance granting relief, no matter how long the memory.
Her abode, however long my remembrance lingered hopefully.
The turns of time dragged on until she became estranged, for distance wears out the union, and so it weakens.
وَجَرَّت صُروفُ الدَهرِ حَتّى تَنكَّرَت
وَقَد يُخلِقُ النأَيُ الوِصالَ فَيَضعُفُ
The vicissitudes of fate have flowed until they altered,
There was no hidden love reckoned like mine, nor an intimate companion to whom I was as close.
And separation can create communion, which then grows weak.
One of the fair ones, seeking her does not console one's cares; is there a place for youth now that sorrow has prevailed?
وَقَد كُنتُ لا حُبٌّ كَحُبّيَ مُضمَرٌ
يُعَدُّ وَلا إِلفٌ كَما كُنتُ آلَفُ
Never was a secret love like my secret love,
Full-figured, as if her gown rests upon a shifting sand dune, yet slender is the waist her sash embraces.
That could be counted, nor an intimacy like what I shared.
Smooth is her cheek where the tear flows; satisfied with her union is the most fastidious and demanding seeker.
مِنَ البيضِ لا يُسلي الهُمومَ طِلابُها
فَهَل لِلصِّبا إِذ جاوَزَ الهَمَّ مَوقِفُ
Of the white ones, whose seekers sorrow comforts not,
It is as if her front teeth and the coolness of her gums, shortly after slumber, have strong wine flowing over them.
Can the ardent youth have, when care has outstripped him?
A chilled vintage, as if musk were mixed with its fragrance, enclosed within a dark, speckled wineskin.
رَداحٌ كأَنَّ المِرطَ مِنها بِرَملَةٍ
هَيامٍ وَما ضَمَّ الوَشاحانِ أَهيَفُ
A pasture it seems, as if the irrigation’s source therein
Diluted with the water of rain clouds in the shadow of a rock, shielded from debris by a fierce, cold wind.
Were a sand-heap, and the pressed folds held nothing rich.
No dark-eyed doe with her fawn, appearing graceful at the bottom of a valley where the torrent winds,
أَسيلَةُ مَجرى الدَمعِ يَرضى بِوَصلِها
مُطالِبُها ذو النيقَةِ المُتَطَرِّفُ
A torrent course for tears to flow, its seeker pleased
Is more beautiful than she was the day she stood, while her eye poured forth tears from the anguish of separation.
With joining it, he of the softness and dangling tresses.
Many a night I traversed to meet Umm Amr, a journey the boldest night-traveler would dread.
كأَنَّ ثَناياها وَبَردَ لِثاتِها
بُعَيدَ الكَرى تَجري عَليهِنَّ قَرقَفُ
As though her trace and scent of departure were
With the sides of my shirt torn, looking like a polished, slender blade emerging from the scabbard's lining.
Far off perfumes drifting over them ceaselessly.
I stood fixed—while sleep was sweet in the eye of the sleeper—for your memory, while the enslaved lover is consumed.
شَمُولٌ كأَنَّ المِسكَ خالَطَ ريحَها
وَضُمِّنَها جَونُ المناكِبِ أَكلَفُ
An embrace as if the musk were mixed with her breath,
And the slope of her shoulders gathered up languor.
تُشابُ بِماءِ المُزنِ في ظِلِّ صَخرَةٍ
تَقيها مِنَ الأَقذاءِ نَكباءُ حَرجَفُ
She rivals rainwater in the shade of an overhang,
Sheltering her from the burning sun of midday’s heat.
وَما مُغزِلٌ أَدماءُ تُضحي أَنيقَةً
بِأَسفَلَ وادٍ سَيلُهُ مُتَعَطِّفُ
No spindle ever of maidens’ blood was sacrificed more fair
In the depths of a valley whose torrent winds tortuously.
بِأَحسَنَ مِنها يَومَ قامَت وَعينُها
بِعَبرَتِها مِن لَوعَةِ البَينِ تَذرِفُ
Fairer than she, that day she rose and her eye with
Her tears of the anguish of separation flowed over.
وَلَيلٍ لألقى أُمَّ عَمروٍ سَرَيتُهُ
يَهابُ سُراهُ المُدلِجُ المُتَعَسِّفُ
And night, I met Umm ‘Amr’s tent, dreading
Its main poles, and that arrogant, encroaching night.
وَمُنشَقِّ أَعطافِ القَميصِ كأَنَّهُ
صَقيلٌ بَدا مِن خِلَّةِ الجَفرِ مُرهَفُ
The slit shoulder seams of her shirt seemed
Polished metal gleaming from the slit of her collar.
نَصَبتُ وَقَد لَذَّ الرُقادُ بِعينِهِ
لِذِكراكِ والحِبُّ المُتَيَّمُ يشعَفُ
I kept vigil though sleep tempted his eye,
Remembering you, while sad love kindled debilitatingly.
