يَا عَاذِلِي مَا أَنْتَ أَوَّلُ عَاذِلٍ
دَعْنِي لَحَاكَ اللهُ لَسْتَ بِعَاذِلِي
O critic, you're not the first critic
O my reproacher, you are not the first to reproach,
Leave me, may Allah afflict you, you are not my critic
Leave me be, may God rebuke you, you are no true critic of mine.
لَوْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ مَنْ أُحِبُّ عَذَرْتَنِي
لَكِنْ جَهِلْتَ فَلُمْتَنِي بِالْبَاطِلِ
If you knew who I loved, you would excuse me
If you knew the one I love, you would have excused me,
But you were ignorant and blamed me falsely
But you were ignorant, and so you blamed me unjustly.
دَعْنِي وَحَالِي لاَ تَلُمْنِي فِي هَوَى
مَنْ حُبُّهُ مُحْيِي وَلَيْسَ بِقَاتِلِي
Leave me and my state, do not blame me for passion
Leave me to my state, do not blame me for my passion
He whose love gives me life and doesn’t kill me
For one whose love brings me life, and is not my killer.
نَفْسِي الْفِدَاءُ لِمَنْ بِأَسْهُمِ لَحْظِهِ
قَدْ قَدَّ أَحْشَائِي وَلَيْسَ بِنَابِلِ
My soul is ransomed for him who with his glance’s arrows
May my soul be a ransom for the one who, with the arrows of his glance,
Has pierced my entrails yet is no archer
Has pierced my innermost core, though he is no archer.
ظَبْيٌ تَمَلَّكَنِي وَآسَرَ مُهْجَتِي
بِجُفُونِهِ الْمَلْأَى بِأُِثْمُدِ بَابِلِ
A gazelle who has possessed me and captured my infatuation
A gazelle has possessed me and taken my spirit captive,
With his fawn-like, heavily lidded eyes of Babel
With eyelids brimming with the kohl of Babylon.
يَحْكِي مُحَيَّاهُ وَفَاحِمَ فَرْعِهِ
بَدْرُ الدُّجَى لَوْ كَانَ لَيْسَ بِآفِلِ
His cheek and branch-like neck relate
His countenance and his pitch-black flowing tresses resemble
The full moon of nightfall were it not declining
The full moon of the dark night, were it never to set.
خَفَقَاتُ قَلْبِي أَصْلُهُ مِنْ قُرْطِهِ
إِذْ كَانَ فِيهِ مُعَلَّقاً بِسَلاَسِلِ
My heart's palpitations originate from his amulet
The fluttering of my heart originates from his earring,
As it was suspended therein by chains
For it hangs from it, suspended by chains.
