لا تلحَ من تفتنه قينهْ

فإن تصحيفَ اسمها فتْنَهْ

Do not blame one whom a singing-girl enthralls;

for alter the lettering of her name, qīna, and it becomes fitna—temptation.

أكَّدتِ الحسنَ بإحسانها

في مهنةٍ ما مثلُها مهنَهْ

She has strengthened beauty with her excellence,

in a craft unmatched by any craft.

فليجتهدْ من شاء في عيبها

فما يساوي قوله تِبنَهْ

Let whoever wishes strive to find fault with her:

what he says is not worth a straw.

يا ناقماً سوءَ مُجازاتها

أصبحتَ عندي نائم الفِطنهْ

O you who fault her poor requital,

you have become, to my mind, one whose discernment sleeps.

لو قصدَ العاشقُ في عشقه

قصدَ جزاء ما بكى دِمنهْ

If the lover, in his loving, had aimed

at recompense, he would not have wept over a deserted campsite's remains.

أو كان لا يعشق إلا التي

تهواه ما كان الهوى محنهْ

Or if he loved none but the woman who

loved him, passion would not be an ordeal.