جفتني أنْ صددتُ ولي لديها

أسيرا ذِلّةٍ بدنٌ ونفسُ

You spurned me when I sought you, though for you

I am a captive, abject in body and soul.

وأغضبها انصرافُ الطرفِ عنها

وفيه عليَّ خُسران ووكسُ

My looking away angered you, though in it

For me was loss and humiliation.

ولكني عشِيتُ لنورِ شمس

ملاحظتي لها سَرقٌ وخَلْس

But I feared that the light of the sun observing us

Would be theft and shame on my part.

وأنَّى لي بنظرةِ مستديم

إذا ما قابلتْ عينيَّ شمس

How could I gaze steadily

If my eyes met the sun?

وكم صدَّتْ وإن لم أجنِ ذنباً

وأعقبَ صدَّها قَطْبٌ وعبْس

Often you spurned me though I sinned not,

And after your spurning came frowning and sullenness.

فلم أعتب لذاك وإن أضاقت

عليَّ الأرضَ حتى قلت حبْس

Yet I did not complain of that, though you straitened

The earth for me until I felt it a prison.

أيا شمس النهارِ سَناً وعزّاً

يقصِّر عنهما نظرٌ ولمسُ

O sun of the day, exalted in glory and age,

Sight and touch fall short of reaching you.

أحِلٌّ أن تنامي عن سهادي

ولي مذ بانَ عني النومُ خمس

It is right that you set away from my pillow

Though sleep has been banished from me this five nights.

ولم آمل غداً لكِ فيه عدل

وإلا قلتُ خير منه أمس

I hoped not tomorrow would bring you justice,

Else I should have said: Better than this was yesterday.

أبشُّ وتعبسين وذاك بخسٌ

وليس يحل في الإسلام بخس

You frown at me and that is injustice,

And it is not lawful in Islam to act unjustly.

تطيعين الوشاةَ إذا وشَوْا بي

وأكثرُ قيلهم دَحْسٌ وحدس

You obey the slanderers when they slander me

And most of their talk is raving and guesswork.

وكم واشٍ وشى بكِ غير آلٍ

فآب وحظُه تَعْس ونكس

Many a slanderer has slandered me, bent on mischief,

Then slipped and his fortune was misery and overthrow.

أميّز كل شيءٍ من أموري

سوى أمري لديكِ ففيه لبس

I distinguish each thing in my affairs

Except my affair with you - in that is confusion.

أيسفكُ للوشاة دم ثمينٌ

وقيمةُ كل ما يَحكون فَلسُ

For slanderers I do not shed precious blood,

And the value of all they say is a flea.

غرستِ هوى فَربيه بحفظٍ

فليس يُرَبّ بالتضييع غرس

You planted a love - then tend it with care,

For a plant is not tended by neglecting it.