أَمَربَعَنا بِالشَطِّ لا لَعِبَ البِلى

بِرَبعِكَ ماناحَت حَمامَةُ وادِ

Our youth by the riverbank was not for play

O our abode by the riverbank, may decay never play with your ruins / So long as a dove of the valley coos its lament.

Your meadow, where a dove nested, gave me rest

There I cast off the bridle of propriety for a day and a night, / While the drinking of wine drove slumber from my rest.

خَلَعتُ عِذاري فيكَ يَوماً وَلَيلَةً

وَشَرَّدَ شُربُ الراحِ فيكَ رُقادي

I cast off my cloak there for a day and night

With one who adopts the Nazarene rite as his worship, / Deeming that therein he finds the path of right guidance.

Wine’s enchantment scattered there my sleep

Shall I recall a glance that, through rejection, severed / Hearts that were parched, thirsting for union with him?

وَمُتَّخِذٍ دينَ النَصارى عِبادَةً

يَرى أَنَّهُ فيهِ مُصيبُ رَشادِ

And one who takes the Christian faith as worship

And recall a glance that was generous in granting connection, / For which hearts collapsed, freed from their binding shackles?

Sees it as where he finds righteous guidance

And a golden wine—the passage of time only increases her worth / When he gently breaks her strength with water of morning rain.

أَأَذكُرُ طَرفاً بِالصُدودِ تَقَطَّعَت

قُلوبٌ إِلَيهِ بِالوِصالِ صَوادِ

Shall I recall a glance that severed hearts

It is as if the bubbles she reveals upon her mingling, / And those appearing before, were the staring eyes of locusts.

Yearning for union, hearts caught in its snare

وَأَذكُرُ طَرفاً بِالوِصالِ سَخَت لَهُ

قُلوبٌ تَداعَت مِن وَثاقِ صِفادِ

And recall a glance in union that softened hearts

Hearts that crumbled, their fetters cut apart

وَصَفراءَ طولِ الدَهرِ فيها يَزيدُها

إِذا شَجَّها هَوناً بِماءِ غَوادِ

She’s sallow, but when tenderly stroked with water

Her paleness diminishes, like soft clouds

كَأَنَّ الَّذي تُبديهِ عِندَ نِكاحِها

وَما قَبلَهُ مِنها عُيونُ جَرادِ

It’s as if what she reveals on her wedding night

And before were glimpses of locusts’ eyes