لكم من سقامي بالهوى شاهدٌ عدلُ

فلا تلزموني سلوةً ما لها أصلُ

In my body, through love, you have a just and honest witness;

so do not attribute to me a forgetfulness that has no foundation.

وإن ظنَّ في ليس الضنا بي خيانة

فما خنت بل جادت به الأعين النجل

And if anyone suspects that some betrayal lies folded in my wasting,

I was not faithless: the wide, dark eyes themselves bestowed this wasting on me.

نحلتُ إلى أن لم يرَ الطيفُ مضجعي

ولم يبدُ في ظلّ الغزالة لي ظلُّ

I grew so thin that even the dream-phantom could not see my bed,

and no shadow of me appeared to the phantom through my gauntness.

وأصبحت صبّاً والديارُ قريبةٌ

فكيف إذا شطّت يكون بها الخبل

I became love-mad while the dwellings were still nearby—

what madness, then, will seize me when they draw far away?

وهيهاتِ أنَّ البعدَ والهجر مطغئٌ

لواعج شوق شبَّها القربُ والوصل

Far be it that distance and abandonment should ever quench

the burning pangs of longing kindled by nearness and union.

بكى لولوعي راحماً كلُّ شامت

ورقذَ لحزني فيكم الحزن والسهل

Every gloating enemy wept in pity at my passion,

and at my grief for you both rugged ground and level plain grew tender.

نزلتمْ فؤاداً ليس يخلو من الهوى

وأمررتمُ عيشي فهيهات أن يحلو

You have lodged within a heart never empty of desire,

and embittered my life—far be it now that it should grow sweet.

فمن لي بقلبٍ لا يهيم صبابةً

ودمعٍ على آثاركم ليس ينهلُّ

Who will give me a heart that does not wander madly with yearning,

and tears that do not stream upon the traces you have left?

وثقتُ بأسماء الغواني جهالةً

فما أنعمت نعمٌ ولا أجملت جمل

In ignorance I trusted the names of beautiful women,

but Nuʿm showed no grace, and Jumal did nothing beautiful.

وعهدُ الصبا مثل الصبى بسويقةٍ

تصحُّ به أشواقنا حين تعتلُّ

The days of youth were like the east wind at Suwayqa;

by it our longings grow sound whenever they fall ill.

ولولا دموعي لم تجدها سحابةً

ولولا حنيني ما انثنى البانُ والأثل

Were it not for my tears, no cloud could have rivaled them;

were it not for my sighing, neither bān nor tamarisk would bend.

زمانٌ كصرفِ البابليَّةِ مشتهى

وإن كان أحياناً يصاب به العقل

A time desirable as pure Babylonian wine,

though at times the mind itself was overcome by it.

وقد كان قلبي في ضلال عن الهوى

فما زال حتى دلَّهُ نحوها الدلُّ

My heart had once wandered astray from love,

until her coquettish charm guided it toward her.

قصيرةُ عمرِ الوصل والعهدِ غادةٌ

طويلٌ على عشَّاقها الوجدُ والعذل

A maiden whose union and promises are short-lived,

yet whose lovers’ anguish and reproach are long.

أذابت فؤادي والحشى بذوائبٍ

أغارُ عليها إذ يلاعبها الحجل

With her tresses she melted my heart and innermost core;

I grow jealous for her when even her anklets play with her.

ويعذب لي في حبّها فعلُ جفنها

ومن عجب في الحب أن يعذب القتل

In loving her, the work of her eyelid is sweet to me—

one of love’s wonders is that even killing can be sweet.

خليليَّ ما للبرقِ من أيمن الحمى

كما اهتزَّ فرعٌ شائبٌ والدجى طفل

My two companions, what ails the lightning over the right flank of the protected land?

It trembled like a branch gone gray while darkness was still a child.

يهبُّ كما شبَّت ذوائبُ جذوةٍ

ويغمضُ أحياناً كما أغمد النصل

It leaps up like the streaming locks of a blaze newly kindled,

and sometimes closes its eye, as a sword is sheathed.

يذكرنيها والصّبى وليالياً

خلت فخلت من لوعة لي بها شغل

It reminds me of her, of youth, and of nights

that passed; in my anguish, I imagined I still had dealings with them.

لياليَ بيع الصبرُ فيها بصدّهِ

وبالعزّ في أسواقها اشتريَ الذلُّ

Nights in whose markets patience was sold for her rejection,

and humiliation was bought at the price of honor.

كذلك أخلاق الليالي وأهلها

فويحَ القوافي لا زمانٌ ولا خلُّ

Such are the ways of nights and of those who inhabit them—

alas for verse: there is neither a faithful age nor a friend.

عدمتُ أخاً لا يصدع العتبُ قلبهُ

يميل فلا يثنيهِ قولٌ ولا فعلُ

I have lost a brother whose heart reproach does not split—

one who inclines toward me, whom neither word nor deed can turn aside.

فردْ منزلاً سهلاً وخدناً موافقاً

ولا يشغل الأوطان قلبكَ والأهل

Seek, then, a pleasant dwelling and a congenial companion,

and let neither homeland nor family preoccupy your heart.

فلا خير فيمن ليس يرضيك غيبهُ

ولا في بلادٍ جارُ سكَّانها المحل

There is no good in one whose conduct in your absence does not please you,

nor in a land where barrenness dwells beside its people.

ولا فلتِ العيسُ الفلاة ولا ارتمتْ

إلى نحوها كومُ الجديليَّة البذل

The camels did not leave the wilderness, nor did they fling themselves

toward it—the high-humped, full-grown she-camels of Jadīliyya—

ولا افترَّ ثغر العيش إلاّ ببلدةٍ

حيا راحةِ الملك العزيزِ لها وبل

nor did the mouth of life part in a smile except in a city

revived by a downpour from the palm of the mighty king.