أَعَدَّتْ نِبَالاً لِلْحَشَا وَهْيَ أَلْحَاظُ

لَهَا الْهُدْبُ رِيشٌ وَالْمَحَاجِرُ أَرْعَاظُ

She prepared arrows for the beloved while she is glancing.

She prepared arrows for my heart, and they are but her glances,

Her cheek is feathered and her eyelids are quivers.

Whose fletchings are her eyelashes, and whose nocks are her eye-sockets.

وَحَيْثُ سَبَتْهُ بِالدَّلَالِ سَقَتْهُ مِنْ

سُلاَفَةِ كَاسَاتِ الْهَوَى وَهْيَ أَلْفَاظُ

Where she enchanted him with coquetry, she quenched his thirst

And where she captivated him with coquetry, she poured for him a drink from

From the drafts of the cups of passion and they are words.

The choicest wine of passion's cups, and they are but her words.

فَهَامَ فَرَامَ السِّتْرَ إِذْ هَاجَ فَانْتَشَى

فَنَاءَ بِهِ حِمْلُ الْهَوَى وَهْوَ مِبْهَاظُ

So he became enraptured, when the veil was stirred, awakened,

So he wandered in love, seeking concealment, but as passion flared he grew intoxicated,

And with it the burden of passion faded away and it is effaced.

And the burden of love weighed heavily upon him, a crushing weight.

فَيَالَكَ مِمَّا يَسْتَلِينُ الذِي قَسَا

وَيَمْلِكُ طَبْعَ الْمَرْءِ وَالْمَرْؤُ جَوَّاظُ

Woe unto you from what melts the one who became harsh

Oh, what a marvel! It softens that which is fiercely hard,

And controls the nature of man while man is pliant.

And it commands a man's nature, even when the man is arrogant and harsh.

لِيَ اللهُ قَلْبِي كَمْ يَذُوبُ مِنَ الْجَوَى

إِذَا عَنَّ مِنْ بَيْنِ الأَحِبَّةِ مِغْنَاظُ

May God protect my heart from melting out of love

God help my heart, how often it melts from burning passion,

When the loved ones are away from me and it is melting.

Whenever a cruel provocation emerges from among the beloveds.

مَتَى لاَحَ بَرْقُ الشَّوْقِ فِي سُدَفِ الْحَشَا

أُتِيحَ لِأَجْفَانِ التَّوَلُّهِ إِيقَاظُ

Whenever the lightening of longing flashed in the darkness of night

Whenever the lightning of longing flashes in the shadows of my heart's depths,

Slumber is removed from the eyelids of the sleepless and it is awakened.

An awakening is decreed for the eyelids of infatuation.

أَرَى أُمَّ أَوْفَى مُذْ وَفَى لِيَ صَرْمُهَا

يُسَاوِرُنِي أَيْمٌ مِنَ الْهَمِّ جَنْعَاظُ

I see the mother of loyalty since she bade me farewell

Ever since Umm Awfa's severing of ties was fulfilled against me, I perceive

Preoccupied by worries night and day.

A thick, venomous serpent of sorrow assaulting me.

إِذَا سَامَنِي صَبْرٌ عَلَيْهَا هُنَيْهَةً

يُنَضْنِضُ مِنْ وَجْدٍ عَلَيَّ وَيَغْتَاظُ

Whenever patience relaxes me a brief moment from her

If patience over her approaches me for a brief moment,

It shakes me with passion and rages.

It flicks its tongue at me out of torment and seethes with rage.

وَإِنْ شِمْتُ بَرْقاً لِلسُّلُوِّ عَنِ الأَسَى

تَأْوِبنِي مِنْهُ كِظَاظٌ وَإِغْلاَظُ

And if I detect a flash of delight after sorrow

And if I watch for a lightning gleam of solace from this sorrow,

I am led away from it by veils and obstacles.

Suffocating distress and harshness return to strike me from it.

فَلاَ يَهْنَإِ الْعُذَّالَ حَادِثُ بَيْنِهَا

فَإِنِّي بِهِ كَأْسَ التَّنَغُّمِ لَمَّاظُ

So the reproacher should not gloat over what occurred between us

May the faultfinders find no joy in the tragedy of her departure,

For with it I am filled to the brim with grief.

For indeed, through it, I am one who still savors the cup of melodies.

أَرَاهَا إِذَا أَفْنَى نَحِيبِي تَأَلُّمِي

وَأَذْهَلَنِي عَنِّي مِنَ الشَّوْقِ أَقْيَاظُ

I see her when my weeping ends, grieving for me

I see her whenever my weeping exhausts my suffering,

And the intensity of longing makes me heedless of myself.

And the intense summer heats of longing make me forget myself.

وَفَاظَتْ دَوَاعِي الصَّبْرِ عَنْهَا بُعَيْدَهَا

وَكُلُّ دَوَاعِي الصَّبْرِ بِالْبَيْنِ فَيَّاظُ

The means of patience have failed in her absence

The motives for patience expired shortly after she left,

And all means of patience fail with separation.

For every motive for patience is poured out and destroyed by separation.

وَصَمَّ صَدَى الأَسْمَاعِ عَنْ هَدْيِ عُذَّلِي

فَأَخْفَقَ عُذَّالٌ لِذَاكَ وَوُعَّاظُ

The hearing is deaf to the guidance of my reproachers

The echoes of my hearing have grown deaf to the guidance of my censurers,

So the reproachers failed in that and the preachers.

And thus the faultfinders and preachers have failed.

نَجِيَّةَ أَفْكَارِي تُحَدِّثُ لَوْعَتِي

بِمَا لاَ تَعِي مِنْ مُسْنَدِ الْوُدِّ حُفَّاظُ

The intimate thoughts of my mind tell my agony

The confidante of my thoughts speaks to my burning anguish,

What the guardian of love does not know.

With an authentic chain of love that even great memorizers cannot grasp.

عَلَيْهَا كَرَيَّاهَا تَحِيَّةُ ذِي هَوىً

لَهُ بَيْنَ أَكْنَافِ الْمَحَبَّةِ إِلْظَاظُ

For her like her satisfaction is the greeting of one in love

Upon her, as sweet as her fragrance, is the greeting of a passionate lover,

Who has intimacy in the folds of affection.

Who remains steadfastly within the sheltering bounds of love.

أُلِحُّ عَلَيْهَا مَا حَيِيتُ بِذِكْرِهَا

وَإِنِّي عَلَى عَيْنِ الْحَيَاةِ لَمِلْظَاظُ

I insist on mentioning her as long as I live

I will persistently invoke her memory as long as I live,

And I am intent on the spring of life even as it is vanishing.

And indeed, at the very spring of life, I remain unyielding.