وكنتُ تركتُ الشعرَ آنف من خنا

وأكبرُ عن مدح وأزهدُ في غزل

I had abandoned poetry earlier out of boredom

And had grown too proud for panegyrics or love poems

فما زال بي حُبِّيك حتى تطلعت

خواطرُ شعرٍ كان طالعُه أفل

Yet your love for me has persisted until

Ideas for verses have surfaced that once seemed futile

تزلُّ القوافي عن لساني كأنَّه

يفاعٌ يزلُّ السيلُ عنه على عَجَل

Words pour out of my mouth as though

It were a stream from which floods spill forth headlong

فاصبَحَ شعرُ الأعشَيَين من العشا

لديه وشعرُ الأخطَلين من الخَطَل

So the poetry of those lovesick with passion

Has become like Al-A’sha and that of devoted lovers like Al-Khatal