سُلطانُ حُسن والملاحُ جُنودُه

والعاشقونَ بِأَسرِهِم فِي أَسرِهِ

Beauty is a sovereign, and the fair are his soldiers;

and the lovers, one and all, are held in his captivity.

أضحَى عَزِيزاً فِي الوَرَى فَكَأَنَّهُ

فِي الحُسنِ يُوسُف عَصرِهِ فِي مِصرِهِ

He has become mighty among humankind, as though

in beauty he were the Joseph of his age, in his Egypt.

قَد عَزَّ في سُلطَانِهِ بِجَمَالِهِ

لَكِنَّنِي فِي ذلَّةٍ مِن هَجرِهِ

Through his beauty he has grown mighty in his dominion;

yet I am humbled by his abandonment.

أَنَا مُغرَمٌ فِي حُبِّهِ وَمُتَيَّمٌ

أَنَا عَبدُه طوعاً لَهُ فِي أَمرِهِ

I am enamored of his love, utterly enthralled;

I am his slave, willingly obedient to his command.

أنَا قد رَضيتُ بما يَشَاءُ في حُكمِهِ

فِي حَالَتَي عُسرٍ الغرامِ وَيُسرِهِ

I have accepted whatever he wills in his judgment,

in love’s twin states—its hardship and its ease.

تبّت يَدَا مَن لامَنِي فِي حُسنِه

لَم يَدرِ مِن حُلو الغَرَامِ وَمُرِّهِ

May the hands of whoever blamed me for his beauty perish;

he knew nothing of love’s sweetness and its bitterness.

وَاللَّهِ لَو ذَابَ الفُؤادُ مِنَ الجَوَى

ما بُحتُ يَوماً في الغَرَامِ بِسِرِّهِ

By God, even if the heart should melt from passion’s anguish,

I would never disclose his secret in love.

وَلأَصبِرَنَّ عَلَى هَوَاهُ فَرُبَّما

فَازَ المُتَيَّمُ بِالوِصالِ بِصَبرِهِ

I shall surely remain patient in loving him, for perhaps

the enthralled lover may win union through his patience.