يا قابِري بِدَلالِه

وَدامِري بِمِطالِه

O you who changes my night

O you who buries me with his coquetry,

Making it short with its length

And destroys me with his delay,

وَيا مِبَدِّلَ لَيلي

قِصارَهُ بِطِوالِه

I seek refuge in a face

O you who transforms my night,

The full moon in its likeness

Replacing its brevity with endless length,

أَعوذُ مِنكَ بِوَجهٍ

بَدرُ الدُجى في مِثالِه

Yet it is sweeter from you

I seek refuge from you in a face

For the beauty of its mole

Whose likeness is the full moon of the dark,

لَكِنَّهُ مِنكَ أَحلى

لِحُسنِ مَوضِعِ خالِه

Alas, have mercy on one fallen

Yet it is sweeter still,

Under the mantle and its shadows

For the beautiful placement of its mole.

أَلا رَحِمتَ صَريعاً

تَحتَ الرَدى وَظِلالِه

One who sees not but the ghosts of

Will you not have mercy on a fallen victim

A bed other than its image

Cast beneath death and its shadows?

مَن لا يَرى مِن وَثيرِ ال

فِراشِ غَيرَ خَيالِه

Frail as an anklet he is

One who sees nothing of the soft

Hidden from his blamer

Bedding except its phantom image,

مِثلُ الخَلالِ نَحيلٌ

يَخفى عَلى عُذّالِه

So one who wished you ill

Emaciated like a splinter,

Would be in his state

Invisible even to his critics.

فَمَن بَغى لَكَ سوءً

فَكانَ في مِثلِ حالِه

So whoever seeks evil for you,

May he end up in a state just like his.