لعينيك في الأحشاء ما نَفَث السِحْرُ
وللحب في الألباب ما فعل الخَمر
Your eyes in my heart cast a spell like magic,
And love in my mind acted like wine,
وما كنت أن أسلو وفيّ بقيّةٌ
ولا كاد أن يُفضي لصحوبيَ السُكر
I would not have complained, if some of you remained,
Or if the intoxication of my friends receded.
خليليَّكم أدنو فتنأى مطالبي
ويقصر عن إِدراكها منِّيَ العُمْرُ
My beloved ones, come closer, so my requests move away,
And the shortness of my life fails to reach them.
أخوض لها من كل بهماءَ مقفر
غمار فجاج ما تقحّمها سَفْرُ
I dive into every desolate confusion,
Into murky, turbulent depths that no journey penetrates.
كأنَّ السُرى بحرٌ كأني أَخوضه
كأنَّ له مدٌّ وليس له جَزْر
As if traveling is an ocean that I dive into,
As if it has a tide but no shore,
كأنّ الثرى أفقٌ كأنَّ مطيتي
هلال كأنَّ السير موئله الحَشْرُ
As if the earth is a horizon, as if my mount,
Is a crescent, and the journey's end is resurrection.
كأنَّ المنى ماءٌ كأنيَ ناهل
كأنَّ الفيافي البيض ما بيننا جِسْرُ
As if the object of desire is water that I draw from,
As if the vast deserts between us are a bridge.
كأنَّ نجاشيَّ الظلام مُتيَّمٌ
كأنيّ ملقىً في ضمائره سِرُّ
As if the darkness of night is a leader,
As if my secret is cast into its conscience.
تذكرني شكوى الغرام حمامةٌ
لها فَرْطُ أشجان بجيش بها الصدر
The lament of passion reminds me of a dove,
Overflowing with sorrows, in whose chest is an army.
أجارتنا أقلقتِ جفن صبابتي
وهيجتِ شوقاً دون لاعجه الجمر
You have unsettled me, disturbed the sleep of my eyelids,
And provoked longing, no ember can equal it.
ولم يبقَ لي إِلاّ تَعِلَّة مُعْدِم
تجاذبها من كلّ جارحة ذكر
I have nothing left but a consuming sickness,
Drawn from every limb by the recollection.
ليال يَراها القُصر حتى كأنما
تكنّفها من كل ناحية فجر
Nights where the palace sees her as if
The dawn surrounds her from every side.
كأنَّ دُجاها في الأديم نهارها
عصيمُ مِداد كادَ يجحده السِفر
As if her figure in the dark is her daytime,
Clear ink, that the description almost denies.
كأنَّ به الجوزاء عقد لآلىءٍ
تطوقُه من صدر زنجيّة نحر
As if the Pleiades are a necklace of pearls,
Encircling the neck of an Abyssinian maiden.
كأنّ الثُرّيا في اختلاف نجومها
بوادرُ آمال يحاولها الجر
As if the clusters of the Pleiades, in their variation,
Are the beginnings of hopes that fate tests.
كأنَّ السُّهى معنىً يَدِقُّ فيختفى
ويبدو جِهاراً أن تراجعه الفكر
As if the meteor is a meaning that flickers and disappears,
Only to reappear openly when thought returns.
كأنَّ سَنا المريخ نار تعلّقت
بذيل هَزيمٍ راحَ يجهده الذعر
As if the tail of Mars is a fire attached,
To the train of a defeated one, terrified by panic.
كأنَّ بني نعش سَفينٍ تخالفت
عواصفها وهناً فشتتها البحر
As if the Altars are a ship whose storms
Have varied and scattered it on the seas.
كأنَّ امتدادَ الأفق فوق نجومه
قَساطل حرب زُغْف فرسانها نُضر
As if the horizon’s expanse above its stars
Are the buckets of an army whose horsemen are youths.
كأنَّ كلا النسرين لما تقابلا
نزيل عراك دأبه الكرُّ والفرُّ
As if when the two eagles met,
It was to engage in a struggle whose rule is attack and retreat.
كأنَّ سُهَيْلاً حين صوّبَ آفلا
فؤاد محبّ راح يُرجِفُه الهجرُ
As if Suhail, when it confronted the disappearing star,
Was a lover’s heart trembling with abandonment.
كأنَّ به الشعرى الغُميصَاء خلفه
شقيقته الخنساء يقدمها صَخْر
As if behind the cloudy Shara, her sister,
The Khensaa, she leads, a rock heaped before her.
كأنَّ عمود الصبح تحت هلاله
لتركيةٍ من تحت منطقة خصر
As if the pillar of dawn beneath its crescent,
Were a Turkish maiden’s waist under her belt.
