بين المقبل يا سليم وبيني

نور الطلا أم حمرة الشفتين

Between the one who comes, O Slim, and me

Is it the light of dawn or the redness of lips?

كلتاهما راح السرور وإنما

أحلاهما الراح التي للعين

Both have taken away joy, but

The most beautiful of them is the breeze blowing into the eyes.

ربي أدم بهما المسرة والصفا

واحفظهما من لوعة البرحين

My Lord, let them continue pleasure and clarity

And protect them from the agony of separation.

وامنن علي بضمةٍ من كاتبٍ

يمحو بريقته كتاب البين

And bless me with an embrace from a writer

Whose radiance can erase the book of estrangement.

قمرٌ يحط محبُّهُ من قدره

إن قال هذا ثالثُ القمرين

A moon that humbles his lover, should he say

“This is the third of two moons.”

لولا انفجار ذؤابتيه بفرقه

ما شام طرفي أصدق الفجرين

Were it not for the outburst of his reproaches in parting

My eyes would not have seen the truest of dawns.