لِتَهْنَ عَيْنٌ لِطَيْفِ الضَّيْفِ تَرْتَقِب

وَمُهْجَةٌ لِلْهَوىَ العُذْرِيّ تَنْتَسِبُ

Let an eye rejoice for the guest's phantom it awaits

And a passion for innocent love it claims

يَا مُعْرِضِينَ بِلاَ ذَنْبٍ وَقَدْ عَتَبُوا

الذنبُ مِنْكُمْ عَلاَمَ الصَّدُّ وَالغَضَبُ

O you who turn away without sin, though they blamed you

The sin is from you - why the rejection and anger?

هَلاَّ حَفِظْتُم عُهوداً بَات يَحْفَظُهَا

صَبٌّ صَبَا لِلصَّبَا إذْ شَفَّهُ الوَصَبُ

Why not keep pacts the youth kept safe

A youth who quenched for youth when eagerness kindled

لَمْ يَقْضِ في حُبِّكُمْ مِنْكُمْ بِكُمْ وَطَراً

حَتَّى قَضَى وَقَضَى بَعْضَ الَّذِي يَجِبُ

Your love for them has not fulfilled any want for them

Until it fulfilled and fulfilled some of what's deserved

سرتمْ وَفِي الحي مَيْتٌ قَدْ عجبتُ لَهُ

إنْ هَبَّ مِنْكُمْ نَسِيمٌ هَزَّهُ الطَّرَبُ

You walked away while among the living a dead man wondered at

If a breeze from you stirred him, confusion would shake him

نَاحَتْ عَلَى فقده وُرْقُ الحِمَى فَهَمَي

جفنُ السحَابِ وَمَالَتْ نَحْوَهُ القُضُبُ

The leaves of love's fever wilted for his loss, and bent

Were the clouds' eyelids, their poles tilting toward him

طُوبَى لَهُ إذْ عَلَى الإخْلاَصِ قد طُوِيَتْ

أحْشَاهُ وَهْوَ الذِي لَمْ يَلْوِهِ النَّصَبُ

Joy to him whose insides sincerity has wrapped

He whom ambition never twisted crooked

فِي ذِمَّةِ الوَجْدِ عَيْناً سَحَّ مدمعُهَا

بمُهْجَةٍ فِي سَبِيلِ الحُب تُحْتَسَبُ

In passion's custody are eyes a tear of theirs adorned

With a passion, for love accounted a credit

لا أشْتَكِي نَار وجْدٍ أحْرقتْ كَبدِي

وَمَدْمَعِي قد رَوَتْ عَنْ صَوْبِهِ السُّحُبُ

I do not complain of the fire of passion which burned my liver

While my tears from their conduits clouds have watered

يَا جِيرة البَانِ لِي في حَيّكُمْ رَشَأٌ

تُرْكِيُّ لَحْظٍ إلى الأعْرَابِ يَنْتَسِبُ

O neighors of Baan, through your district a gaze have I

That looks to the nomads, an Arabian strain claims

إنْ مَاسَ فَالغُصْنُ بِالأوْرَاقِ مُسْتَتِرٌ

أوْ لاحَ فَالبَدْرُ بِالأنواءِ مُحْتَجِبُ

Be it gloomy, the branch in leaves concealed

Or bright, the moon in vapors obscured

حَدِّثْ وَلاَ حرجٌ عَنْ طيبِ نَكْهَتِهِ

فالراحُ في ثَغرِهِ وَالمسكُ وَالضَّرَبُ

Speak without fault of its good savor

For there is breeze in his mouth, musk and cloves

أُعَاهِدُ الرَّاحَ أنِّي لاَ أفَارِقُهَا

لأنَّهَا من لَمَاهُ العَذْبِ تُكْتَسَب

I vow to the zephyr I'll never leave it

For from its sweet dew it draws life

وأعشق البدر لاَ أنِّي كَلفْتُ بِهِ

لَكِنَّهُ من سَنَا خَدَّيْهِ يَلْتَهِبُ

And I love the moon - not that I'm infatuated with it

But that from the radiance of its cheeks it kindles

وَأرقبُ البرقَ أنَّي سَار سَائِرُهُ

مِنْ أجْلِ مَا أنَّهُ للثَّغرِ يَنْتَسِبُ

And I watch the lightning - I walked its walker's route

For the sake of what it to the mouth relates

يَا بَارِقاً رَامَ يَحْكِي دُرَّ مَبْسَمِهِ

لَقَدْ حَكيتَ وَلَكِنْ فَاتَكَ الشَّنَبُ

O lightning portraying his smile's pearls

You told truly but you missed the moustache

وَيَا هِلاَلَ الدُّجَى رَاعِ سَنَاهُ تَجِدْ

بَدْراً مُنِيراً بِهِ قَدْ عَزَّتِ الرُّتَبُ

O new moon of nightfall, shepherd its radiance you'll find

A shining full moon, the ranks nobled by it

وَيَا نَسِيمَ الصَّبَا سَلِّمْ عليه وَقُلْ

غَادَرْتُهُ فِي الدجَى للنجم يَرْتَقبُ

O breeze of morning, greet him and say

I left him in the gloom, awaiting a star

أعْزِزْ بِهِ شَادِنًا يَحْمِيهِ نَاظِرُهُ

عَنْ نَاظِرِي وَالحِمَى وَالبَانُ وَالقُضُبُ

Strengthen by him a lover his watcher guards

From my watcher, the fever, the baan and sticks

أقْسَمْتُ من أدْمُعِي بالمرسَلاَتِ لَقَدْ

آلَ التَرَجِّي إلَيْهِ وَانْتَهَى الطَّلَبُ

I swear by my tears, by the breezes unleashed

Hope in him is ended, seeking is done