تَبَدَّلتُ اِكِساراً بِالنَشاطِ

وَشَدَّ الحُبُّ بِالبَلوى رِباطي

I traded my sorrows for cheerfulness,

I have exchanged my vigor for a shattered spirit,

And love has bound me with affliction.

And Love, through affliction, has tightened my bonds.

وَلَولا أَنَّني أَسطو بِصَبرٍ

عَلى قَلبي لَبانَ مِنَ النِياطِ

Were it not that I mastered patience over my heart,

Were it not that I master my heart with patience,

It would have oozed like honey from a comb.

It would have surely torn loose from its very cords.

وَأَنوَكَ قالَ لَو أَقصَرتُ عَنهُ

فَقُلتُ لَهُ اللِقاءُ عَلى الصِراطِ

He reproached me saying, had I neglected him,

A fool advised, "If only you would refrain from this,"

I said the meeting is on the straight path.

To whom I replied, "The reckoning is at the Bridge of Doom."

فَلَولا أَنَّهُ إِذ لامَ فيهِ

تَحَرَّمَ بِالجُلوسِ عَلى بِساطي

Were it not that when he blamed me

And were it not that, while he poured out blame,

He was forbidden from sitting on my carpet.

He held the sanctity of a guest upon my carpet,

فَقُلتُ لَهُ بِما آتيهِ عَقلاً

لِيَعذِرَ في هَوى الحورِ العَواطي

So I said to him with the reasoning of my mind,

I answered him with reason regarding my ways,

That he may excuse the love of maidens with dangling tresses.

That he might excuse my passion for the graceful beauties:

لَعَيبُكَ لي وَقَولُكَ خَلِّ عَنهُ

أَشَدُّ عَلَيَّ مِن وَقعِ السِياطِ

Your fault with me and your words, leave them be,

"Your censure of me, and your saying 'Leave this be,'

Are more hurtful to me than the stroke of whips.

Are more grievous to me than the lash of whips."