ما ضرّ من زار وجُنحُ الدّجى

يُكحَلُ منه الأفقُ بالإِثمِدِ

No harm from one who visited when night's wings unfolded,

The horizon is lined with blackness because of him.

لو زارنِي والصّبحُ في شمسِه

بلونها الفاقع في مِجْسَدِ

Had he visited me at dawn in its blazing sun,

With its color so dazzling on extended plain.

كيفَ اِهتَدى لِي في قميصِ الدّجى

من كان في الإصباحِ لا يهتدي

How did he find his way to me in the night's shirt

When at dawn one finds no way?

أخْلَفنِي وعدُك في زَوْرَةٍ

فكيفَ وافيتَ بلا موعدِ

Your tryst with me you missed, in an empty visit;

How did you keep it without even appointing a time?

ليستْ يداً منك وما زدتني

في النّومِ شيئاً لم يكن في يدِي

It was no doing of yours: you added nothing to me

In sleep beyond what was already in my hand.

بات الكرى يوهمنِي أنّه

مضاجعٌ جسمِي على مَرقِدِ

The many nights delude me into thinking

My body shares its couch on outspread carpet.

حتّى إِذا الصّبحُ بدا لَمحُهُ

كنتُ مكانَ الأنزح الأبعدِ

Till dawn, when its first light appears,

I am where the farthest mirage had been.

وزار قلبِي والهوى كلُّه

زورة طرفِي الأقرِح الأكمدِ

And my heart - desire itself - visited

The edge of my inflamed and bloodshot eye.