هَجرتُكِ خوفَ أقوال الوشاةِ

وهجرُكِ مثلُ هجرانِ الحياةِ

I abandoned you out of fear of the slanderers' words

And abandoning you is like abandoning life

وأنتِ كرامةً عندي كعيني

وما تنجو العيونُ من القَذاةِ

And you are precious to me like my eyes

And eyes do not escape specks of dust

ولولا الحبُّ ما سهلتْ حُزوني

ولا لانتْ بأيديكمْ صفاتي

If not for love, my sorrow would not have eased

Nor would my qualities have been refined by your hands

وَقالوا قَد عشقتَ فقلت عِشقٌ

كَما اِقتَرح الهوى فمن المؤاتي

And they said you have fallen in love, so I said love

Is like what the passion has proposed, so who would object

بِنَفسي مَن إِذا ما رمتُ وصفاً

لِحُسنٍ فيهِ أَعيَتنِي صِفاتي

With my soul, whoever when I intended praise

Of a beauty in it, my qualities fell short

وَلَو أَغنى عنِ العشّاقِ شَيءٌ

وَدافَع عنهُمُ أغنتْ حُماتي

And if anything would make lovers needless

Or defend them, my protective instincts would have