نَفسي الفِداءُ لِبيضٍ خُرَّدٍ عُرُبٍ

لَعِبنَ بي عِندَ لَثِمِ الرُكنِ وَالحَجَرِ

My soul is ransom for the whiteness of smooth-skinned Arab youths

Who played with me at the Black Stone and rocks

ما تَستَدَلُّ إِذا ما تَهتَ خَلفَهُمُ

إِلّا بِريحِهِمُ مِن طَيِّبِ الأَثَرِ

I cannot find my way when lost without them

Except by their fragrance and the traces of their sweet scent

وَلا دَجا بِيَ لَيلٌ ما بِهِ قَمَرٌ

إِلّا ذَكَرتُهُمُ فَسِرتُ في القَمَرِ

No night is gloomy if it has a moon

Except when I remember them and wander in the moonlight

وَإِنَّما حينَ أُمسي في رِكابِهِمُ

فَاللَيلُ عِندِيَ مِثلُ الشَمسَ في البُكَرِ

It is only when I spend my evenings in their company

That the night becomes to me like the sun at dawn

غازَلتُ مِن غَزَلي مِنهُنَّ واحِدَةً

حَسناءَ لَيسَ لَها أُختٌ مِنَ البَشَرِ

Of my love poems, I courted but one maiden

A beauty without peer among all people

إِن أَسفَرَت عَن مُحَيّاها أَرَتكَ سَناً

مِثلَ الغَزالَةِ إِشراقاً بِلا غَبَرِ

When she reveals her face, she shows you a radiance

Like that of a doe, pure without blemish

لِلشَّمسِ غُرَّتُها لِلَّيلِ طُرَّتُها

شَمسٌ وَلَيلٌ مَعاً مِن أَعجُبِ الصُوَرِ

For the sun is her veil, for the night her cloak

She is sun and night together, a marvel to behold

فَنَحنُ بِاللَيلِ في ضَوءِ النَهارِ بِها

وَنَحنُ في الظُهرِ في لَيلٍ مِنَ الشَعَرِ

So we are with her in daylight though it be night

And we are at noon in a night of poetry