أَرى حُلَلاً مَطَوّاةً حِساناً

عَداني أَن أَراكَ بِها اِعتِلالي

I see robes, beautifully folded,

I behold beautiful robes folded and set aside,

Calling me to see you wearing them in glory.

My illness barred me from seeing you adorned in them.

وَهَبكَ طَوَيتَها وَخَرَجتَ عَنها

أَتَطوي ما عَلَيكَ مِنَ الجَمالِ

You took them off and stepped out of them,

Grant that you have folded them and stepped aside,

As if to fold up all the beauty you bear.

Can you also fold away the beauty that defines you?

لَقَد ظَلَّت أَواخِرُها الأَعالي

مَعَ الأولى بِجِسمِكَ في قِتالِ

Their hems struggled at the top

Their trailing hems have risen to the heights,

With your body in combat.

Vying in battle with the collars over your body.

تُلاحِظُكَ العُيونُ وَأَنتَ فيها

كَأَنَّ عَلَيكَ أَفإِدَةَ الرِجالِ

Eyes watch you in them

All eyes pursue you when you are clad within,

As if you wore the hearts of men.

As if you wore upon yourself the very hearts of men.

مَتى أَحصَيتُ فَضلَكَ في كَلامٍ

فَقَد أَحصَيتُ حَبّاتِ الرِمالِ

When could I ever count your virtues in words?

Could I ever enumerate your merits in words,

I would sooner count the grains of sand.

I would have counted every grain of sand.

وَإِنَّ بِها وَإِنَّ بِهِ لَنَقصاً

وَأَنتَ لَها النِهايَةُ في الكَمالِ

Yet in them, and in you, there is a lack:

Yet in both speech and sand there lies a lack,

You are their limit in perfection.

While you stand as the absolute end of perfection.