طربي إلى ماء الحمى ونزيلهِ

غالَ الفؤادَ ببثهِ وغليله

My heart yearns for the water of love and its anguish,

It boils with his mention and turmoil.

أو كلَّما علقتْ يداي بحاضر

منهُ منيتُ ببينهِ ورحيله

Whenever my hands grasp the present of him,

I wish for our separation and his departure.

قلب تنقَّل في بيوت بدوره

وجوىً أقام بسائراتِ حموله

A heart that roams about visiting his abodes,

And a love that resides in the most sublime of places.

آهاً له في الحبِّ إذ شاورتهُ

فأطعتهُ وعصيتُ أمر عذوله

Alas for it in love when I consulted it,

So I obeyed it and disobeyed the command of my reason.

أشفي على قصر الوصال وعهده الـ

ـماضي ومن ليلِ الصُّدود وطوله

I am healed of the palace of union and its past covenant,

And the long night of estrangement.

عنت البدورُ لأنجمٍ فارقتها

والصبح ما خاض الدجى بحجوله

The abodes became too narrow for stars that I parted from,

And the dawn that plunged into the darkness with its groups.

من لي بمعتدل القوام رشيقهِ

وبفاتر الطرف السقيم كحيله

Who is there for me of moderate stature, graceful,

And of languid eyelids, sickly coquetry.

وبسفح أعلام الثنيَّة منزل

نحرتْ ركاب الغيث بين طلوله

And of a place of descent the banners of undulation,

Where the feet of rain tread between its elevations.

مرَّت به بكر الشباب حميدةً

وكفى نهارَ الشيب ذمُّ أصيله

The prime of youth passed by it commendably,

And the day of old age sufficed, the blame of its origin.

وسألتُ عن صبري وعن سكَّانه

ذهبتْ بثينةُ عامرٍ بجميله

And I asked about my patience and its inhabitants,

Thabeenah of a populated place went away with its beauty.

باناتها طوع النسيم فلو مشت

أعطافها لتعثَّرت بذيوله

Its houses obeying the breeze, so if it walked,

Its trains would stumble over its tails.

ويشوقني بعدَ القدود موائساً

رقصُ الغصون على غناء هديله

And after the period of estrangement I yearn for evenings,

The dancing of branches to the singing of its murmur.

وزماُ لهو بالشآم وموقفٍ

يشتاقُ قاتلهُ فوادُ قتيله

And a time of playfulness in Syria and a stand,

The heart of its killer longs for its slain.

أبكي لمبتسم الجمال وتارةً

أشكو إلى قاسي الفؤاد ملوله

I cry over the smiling beauty and at times,

I complain to the cruel heart its twisting.

ماضي اللَّحاظ فداء عزّ جفزنهِ

ما راض من جفني ومن تذليله

The saliva of my eyelids is ransom for the honor of its cheeks,

It did not accept from my eyelids or my humbling.

أجرى سوابقه على عاداتها

خذٌ أسال الدمعَ حسنُ أسيله

It let loose its precedents according to their customs,

A wound, I asked the tear the beauty of its flow.

وسنان ساجي المقلتين ضعيفُ عقد الـ

ـخصر أعدى الجسم فرط نحوله

And teeth overpowering the slightly split pearls,

Weaker than the waistline, the body exceeded its leanness.

خوطيّةٌ حركاته لم يعده

من رمحه الخطّي غير ذبوله

Myrtle-like are its movements, he did not prepare for it,

Anything but withering from his myrtle spear.

أشتاقُ من كلفي إلى عسَّاله

وأهيم من ظمأي إلى معسوله

I long from my emaciation to its honey-maker,

And I rave from my thirst to its sweetened drink.

سكرت شمائله فلولا خجلةٌ

في كأسه ما أحمرَّ خدُّ شموله

The features of him intoxicated me, so if it were not for shyness,

In his cup, the cheek of its drinker would not have reddened.

قمرٌ هديتُ إلى الغرام بنوره

وعن الهدوّ ضللتُ يوم أفوله

A moon I was guided by its light to passion,

And from guidance I went astray the day of its setting.