مَنَعَ السُّلُوَّ لِعاذرٍ ولعاذلِ

غَيَدٌ يُحَلِّي جِيدَ عَاطٍ عاطِلِ

Forbidden solace to sympathetic and culpable ones,

A branch adorning the cheek of an affectionate neglectful one.

تَرَكَ المُخَيَّمَ بالمُخَيَّمِ يَشْتَكِي

وَجْداً أَقامَ على فؤادٍ راحل

He left the camp with the camp complaining,

Of fervor that dwelled in the heart of one who packed up and left.

يا كوكبًا قلبي المُعَنَّى أُفْقُهُ

اطْلُعْ ولا تَكُ آفلاً في آفِلِ

O planet, my troubled heart understands you,

Rise and do not be invisible in the invisible horizon.

أَنا مَنْ تُشَوِّقُهُ بهَجْرٍ صادقٍ

فعَسَى تسامِحُه بوَعْدٍ ماطِلِ

I am the one whose longing is aroused by sincere estrangement,

Perhaps you will forgive him for a false promise.

مَرْآكَ ديوانُ الجَمَال لأَنَّهُ

ذو ناظِرٍ فيهِ صِفاتُ العامل

Your visage is the journal of beauty, for it has

An observer in it with the qualities of a hard worker.

ولقد سَهِرْتُ الليلَ فيكَ مُنَاجيًا

لبلابلٍ صَدَحَتْ صُدوحَ بلابل

And I stayed up nights speaking to you,

To nightingales that chirped cheerfully to nightingales.

والبدرُ في أُفُقِ السماءِ كفارِسٍ

نَظَمَتْ عليه الشُّهْبُ نَظْمَ جَحَافِلِ

The moon in the sky’s horizon is like a horseman,

The stars lined up on it in the lining of armed forces.

مَنَّيْتَنِي بالوَصْلِ عاماً أَوَّلاً

فَقَنِعْتُ منكَ بقُبْلَةٍ في قابلِ

You made me hope for union one year at first,

So I sufficed from you with a kiss of encounter.

وَشَدَوْتُهُ يا بدرُ ضوؤكَ ناقصُ

فَدَعِ الكَمالَ فإِنَّهُ لِلْكاملِ

And I compared it, O moon, to your incomplete light,

So leave perfection, for it belongs to the Perfect.

وَزَعَمْتَ طرفَك سِنَّ رُمْحٍ ذابلٍ

قُلْنَا صَدَقْتَ فأَيْنَ لِينُ الذَّابلِ

You claimed your eyelash was a worn-out spear,

We said you spoke true, so where is the softness of the worn down?

يا ماطِلَ الأَجفانِ وَهْيَ غِنيَّةٌ

حُوشِيتَ من إِثْمِ الغَنِيِّ الماطلِ

O prolonged of eyelids, they are rich,

You were stingy from the sin of the rich prolonger.