وَعَاتِبَةٍ تَقُولُ وَقَدْ

شَغَلْتُ بِخَالِهَا بَالِي

With reproach she says, while

I was preoccupied with her moles

إلَيْكَ فَكَمْ أضَعْتُ فَتًى

أضَاعَ العُمْرَ فِي الخَالِ

Oh you! How many excellent men have been wasted

Whose life was lost in infatuation

تَمَسَّكَ أنْفُ وَجْنَتِهَا

فَأرْغَمَ أنْفَ عُذَّالِي

Her soft cheek held fast

So my nose was rubbed in the dust

ومَاس قَضِيبُ قَامَتِهَا

فَغَرَّد طَيْرُ بِلْبَالِي

And the staff of her figure stroked

Making the birds in my mind sing

فَرُمْتُ تَمَسُّكًا مِنْهَا

فَقَالَتْ بَلْ بِأذْيَالِي

So I sought to take hold of her

But she said “Nay! By my anklets!”

تَأيَّدَ أمْرُ حَاجِبِهَا

بِمَاضِي الفِعْلِ فِي الحَالِ

The matter of her eyebrow was strengthened

By my immediate, past action

وعَامِلُ قَدّهَا يَسْطُو

بِصَارِمِ نَاظِرٍ وَالِي

And the guard of her stature advances

With the keen-eyed ruler’s sword

تَقُولُ لِمَنْ يُشَبِّهُ

بِالْهِلاَلِ جَبِينَهَا العَالِي

She says to one who compares

Her tall forehead to the crescent moon

أسَأتَ وَمَا اسْتَحَيْتَ فَهَلْ

يُسَاوِي نِصْفَ خَلْخَالِي

“You have done wrong and feel no shame! Can it

Equal half my anklet?”