وَنَشوانَ غَنَّتهُ حَمامَةُ أَيكَةٍ عَلى

حينَ طَرفُ النَجمِ قَد هَمَّ أَن يَكرى

And one enraptured, sung to by a dove of the grove, at the

hour when the star’s eye was on the verge of sleep;

فَهَبَّ وَريحُ الفَجرِ عاطِرَةُ الجَنى

لَطيفَةُ مَسِّ البَردِ طَيِّبَةُ المَسرى

he rose, while the dawn breeze was fragrant with what it had gathered,

delicate in its cool touch, sweet in its night-passage.

وَطافَ بِها وَاللَيلُ قَد رَثَّ بُردُهُ

وَلِلصُبحِ في أُخرى الدُجى مَنكِبٌ يُعرى

He roamed with it, while night’s mantle had grown threadbare,

and dawn, in the last reaches of darkness, had a shoulder laid bare.

وَأَصغى إِلى لَحنٍ فَصيحٍ يَهُزُّهُ

كَما هَزَّ نَشرُ الريحِ رَيحانَةً سَكرى

He listened to an eloquent melody that shook him,

as the wind’s waft shakes a drunken sprig of basil.

تَهَشَّ إِلَيهِ النَفسُ حَتّى كَأَنَّهُ

عَلى كَبِدٍ نُعمى وَفي أُذُنٍ بُشرى

The soul warmed eagerly to it, until it seemed

a blessing upon the heart’s core, and glad tidings in the ear.