ساعرض عمن راح عني معرضا

ولو لاح في برج الثريا طلوعه

I shall turn away from one who went from me, turning away,

Even if his rising should gleam in the constellation of the Pleiades.

واكتم حبي في هواه ولوعتي

واظهر سلواني له واذيعه

I shall conceal my love for him and my burning longing,

And make a show of having forgotten him, proclaiming it abroad.

واحجر طرفي فيه وهو رسوله

وامنع عنه الفكر وهو ضجيعه

I shall restrain my gaze where he is concerned, though it is his messenger,

And keep thought away from him, though thought is his bedfellow.

وابعد روحي منه وهي ظلاله

واهجر قلبي فيه وهو شفيعه

I shall distance my soul from him, though it is his very shadow,

And forsake my heart where he is concerned, though it is his intercessor.

وكيف ترى عيني لمن لا يرى لها

ويكتم سر سار باغ يشيعه

How can my eye look upon one who does not look toward it?

How can a secret be concealed when it has traveled, while one bent on spreading it broadcasts it?

ويصلح لي من لا يراني صالحا

ويحفظ قلبي في الهوى من يضيعه

How can one be fit for me who does not deem me fit,

And how can one guard my heart in love when he is the one who wastes it?

فاقسمت لا تجري دموعي على امرء

تطيب له ان شت عني ربوعه

So I swore my tears would never flow over a man

Who is content for his homesteads to lie far from me.

وهل دمعتي تجرى افتقادا لغائب

اذا كان لا تجري عليّ دموعه

Would my tears flow from missing one who is absent

If his tears do not flow for me?