جَلَّ مَنْ أَنْشَأَ ظَبْياً أَهْيَفَا

زَادَ قَلْبِي فِي هَوَاهُ شَغَفَا

Glorious is He who created a gazelle so graceful,

Exalted is He who created a slender gazelle,

Increasing the passion in my heart for him.

My heart has grown ever more infatuated with his love.

اِصْطَفَاهُ الْحُسْنُ مِنْ أَهْلِ الصَّفَا

مَنْ عَذِيرِي مِنْ غَزَالٍ مُصْطَفَى

Beauty itself chose him from among the elite,

Beauty has chosen him from the people of purity,

He is my beloved from among the choice gazelles.

Who will excuse me regarding this chosen gazelle?

قَدْ جَفَا عَيْنِي الْكَرَى لَمَّا جَفَا

قَدَّ جِسْمِي وَبَرَانِي حُبُّهُ

My eyes have dried from crying since he abandoned me,

Slumber abandoned my eyes when he abandoned me.

His love has wasted me and made me gaunt.

His love has torn my body and worn me down,

وَرَمَتْ قَلْبِي الْمُعَنَّى هُدْبُهُ

بُعْدُهُ دَائِي وَطِبِّي قُرْبُهُ

My anguished heart is pierced by his separation,

And his eyelashes have pierced my tormented heart.

His distance is my affliction, his nearness my remedy.

His distance is my illness, and his nearness is my cure.

لَيِّنُ الْعَطْفِ وَلَكِنْ قَلْبُهُ

قَدْ قَسَا حَتَّى حَكَى صَلْدَ الصَّفَا

Gentle of manner yet his heart is hard,

Supple in stature, yet his heart

Grown so harsh it rivals the solid mountain rock.

Has hardened until it resembles solid rock.