ما بَدرُ وَجهكَ كالبدورِ إِذا اِتّسق

في لَيلِ طرّتكَ الّتي تَحكي الغَسَق

Your face gleams like the full moons when they shine

In your night whose darkness tells many a tale.

رُمحُ القوامِ سَبى الغصونَ فكلُّها

خَجلاً تثنّى مُذ بَدا الخدّ الأنِق

The slender shape put branches to shame, so they bent

In shyness, since the delicate cheek revealed itself.

بِبَريقِ درٍّ مِن نواجذِ ريقهِ

نَفثٌ مِنَ الصهباءِ موقعهُ أرَق

With a sparkle from a precious pearl on his temples

A breath blows from the young gazelle, softening the most wakeful.

يا مَن سَبى حُسنَ الظّبا وَذوي الصبا

هبّ الصّبا مِن عَرفكم فَصبا الأرق

O you who captured the gazelle’s beauty and the youths’ grace,

May the zephyr blow from your hills, and tenderness keep me awake.

يا ذا الفَتى مَن ذا الّذي أَفتاكَ في

سَفكِ الدما بِصوارم من ذي الحَدق

O boy with the sword, who has misguided you to

Spill blood with sharp blades and piercing eyes?

فَدع الرّشا منّي الحَشا سلبَ الرشا

دَ وَقَد نَشا دع مَن وَشى لَكن كَرِق

Leave impudence and recklessness; they have caused misery.

Leave the one who has misled you, but worry and sorrow remain.

وَسَط النوى وَسط الجَوى كَبدي كوى

حقّاً غَوى باغي السوى والعمدُ حُق

In the midst of purpose, in the midst of passion, my liver was burned.

Truly led astray by the rebel who missed the proper path.

قَسَماً بِميمِ محبّتي وَبِحائِها

وَبِميمِ موتي تَبدو مع واوٍ لحق

I swear by the “m” of my love and her “h”,

And by the “m” of my death which shows with the “w” of sincerity.

وَبدالِ دالٍ في الجوانحِ وقدهُ

مَن قالَ كلّ الحسنِ أَنت لَقَد صَدق

And by the “d” of longing in my soul which

Whoever said “You are beauty entire” spoke truth.