وَضَيفِ طَيفٍ أَمَّ مِن هاجِرٍ

باتَ بِهِ المَشكُوُّ مَشكورا

The guest of a specter, or rather a wanderer,

Spent the night with the perfumed- one perfumed.

وَقَد جَلا الحُسنُ لَهُ سُنَّةً

يُلقى بِها المَعذولُ مَعذورا

Beauty has set for him a tradition,

Whereby the outcast is made acceptable.

وَصَفحَةً تُنشَرُ مِن صَفحَةٍ

رَأَيتُ فيها الحُسنَ مَسطورا

And a page I saw spread out from a page

Whereon I saw beauty inscribed.

زارَ وَريحُ الفَجرِ قَد قَلَّصَت

ذَيلَ غَمامٍ باتَ مَجرورا

The dawn breeze blew and diminished

The tail of a cloud that spent the night dragged along.

وَقَلَّدَت أَجيادَ تِلكَ الرُبى

دُرّاً مِنَ النُوّارِ مَنثورا

And it garlanded the steeds of those hills

With pearls of light scattered about.

وَالصُبحُ قَد مَزَّقَ عَن صَدرِهِ

جَيبَ ظَلامٍ باتَ مَزرورا

And the morn tore asunder from its breast

The lap of a darkness that spent the night crumpled up.

فَاِنجابَتِ الدُهمَةُ عَن شُهبَةٍ

وَآلَتِ المِسكَةُ كافورا

Whereupon the darkness uncovered a grayness,

And the censers exhaled camphor.

بِحَيثُ خَيلُ اللَيلِ مَطرودَةً

تَحتَ لِواءِ الحُسنِ مَنشورا

So that the steeds of night were routed

Beneath the standard of beauty outspread.

ثُمَّ مَضى يُعشى بِهِ خاطِري

ناراً وَيُغشى ناظِري نورا

Then it came to glad my heart,

Kindling a fire and bedimming my sight with light,

كَما اِنثَنى غُصنُ النَقا أَملَداً

وَاِلتَفَتَ الجُؤذُرُ مَذعورا

As the sprig of basil bends suppliant

And the wild cows wheel about in panic.

قَد أَسكَرَت خَمرُ الصِبا عِطفَهُ

فَمادَ في بُردَيهِ مَخمورا

The wine of youth has intoxicated his charm,

And he sways about in his cloak drunk.

مُعَربِداً يَجرَحُني طَرفُهُ

وَكانَ ذَنبُ السُكرِ مَغفورا

Teasing me, his glance wounds me,

Yet the sin of drunkenness is forgiven.

وَأَرسَلَ اللَحظَةَ مَكسورَةً

مِن تَرَفٍ وَالخُطوَ مَقصورا

And he let fly a broken glance

Of self-conceit while the pace was confined.

وَسالَ قَطرُ الدَمعِ في خَدِّهِ

فَرَفَّ رَوضُ الحُسنِ مَمطورا

And a teardrop flowed on his cheek

Whereupon the garden of beauty was watered.