جَرَّدت من لحاظها أَسماءُ
مُرهَفاتٍ فُولاذُهنَّ المضاءُ
The graceful beauties have been stripped of their charms,
Their shining metal has lost its glow.
لَيسَ في الدال يَمتَري احدٌ من
صُدغها وَالجفن الكَحيل الراءُ
None can equal her perfectly arched eyebrow,
Or her kohl-lined eyelid and delicate cheek.
واذا الدُرُّ ثغرُها وافئناناً
كتبتهُ في وجهها الاعضآءُ
When she displays her pearls between her lips,
Her features write poetry on her face.
فتبدَّت كأَنَّها بدرُ تِمٍّ
انما الارض أُفقُهُ لا السماءُ
She is like a full moon, the earth its horizon,
Not the sky above that lights her way.
وَتثنت كأَنَّها غصنُ بانٍ
ليسَ ماءٌ يَسقيهِ لكن بهاءُ
She sways like a supple bough, needing no water,
Just her own radiance to blossom and grow.
وَعلى خدِّها من الورد لَونٌ
وَبِفيها للورد طيبٌ وَمآءُ
The rose's hue tints her cheek so gently,
Its scent and dew grace her being with joy.
غادَةٌ قد حوت من الغيدا بهى
ما حوتهُ في حسنها غَيداءُ
She encompasses more beauty than Layla,
Than any famed damsel of legend and lore.
فهيَ ليلى قيسٍ وَلَيلى جَميلٍ
وهي دَعدٌ وهندُ والذَلفآءُ
She is Layla and Jamila, Da'ad and Hind,
She is the charm and grace of them all.
كُلُّ خَودٍ منهنَّ باهت بشيءٍ
وَبها ما حوتهُ تلك النسآءُ
Each lovely-cheeked beauty falls short in some way,
She holds all their glories, and yet there is more.
قلتُ اذ تذكرُ الحسانُ لديها
انَّما تلك كلُّها اسمآءُ
When al-Hassan compared them, he declared,
"Those are but names, she surpasses them all!"
