يا مَن لِعَينٍ سَرِبَه

تَفعَلُ فِعلَ الطَرِبَه

O he whose eyes have caused mischief,

Oh, who will tend to a streaming eye,

Acting like one intoxicated,

Behaving like a woman enraptured,

وَمَن لِنَفسٍ في الهَوى

تَدورُ دَورَ العَرَبَه

And he whose soul is infatuated with love,

And who will tend to a soul in love,

Spinning like a whirlwind,

Spinning round like a wagon wheel,

أَنحَلَني الحُبُّ فَأَصـ

ـبَحتُ شَبيهَ القَصَبَه

Love has undone me, so I have become

Love has wasted me away until I became

Like a pliant reed,

The very likeness of a hollow reed,

لا خَيرَ في الصَبِّ إِذا

كانَ غَليظَ الرَقَبَه

No good is in youth when

There is no good in a lover if

His neck is stubborn,

He possesses a thick neck,

أَحبَبتُ ريماً غَنِجاً

ذا وَجنَةٍ مُذَهَّبَه

I loved a charming gazelle

I fell in love with a coquettish gazelle,

With a gilded neck,

Possessor of a gilded cheek,

فَلَستُ أَنسى قَولَهُ

مِن غَمزِ كَفّي يا أَبَه

I cannot forget his words

I shall not forget his saying

From a wink of his eyelids, O my father,

From the squeeze of my hand: "Oh, Daddy!"

داحَةُ يا نَفسي الفِدى

وَيا غَزالَ الكَتَبَه

Yearning, O my soul ransomed

"A delight!"—may my soul be his ransom—

And O gazelle of poems,

"And oh, you gazelle of the scribes,"

تَرَكتَني مُشتَهِراً

أَشهَرَ مِن مُخشَلَبَه

You left me notorious

You have left me famously exposed,

More notorious than someone with slit nostrils

More famous than a public spectacle,

فَلَيسَ حَظّي قَبلَهُ

مِنكَ شِراءٌ أَو هِبَه

So my share from you before was not

My fortune, regarding him, was not

A purchase or a gift,

From you, a purchase or a gift,

وَلائِمٍ قُلتُ لَهُ

لا تُكثِرَنَّ الجَلَبَه

I said to one blaming me

And to a blamer, I said to him,

Do not increase the pulling,

"Do not increase the clamor,"

إِنَّ الَّذي أَحبَبتُهُ

لَهُ بِحُبّي الغَلَبَه

Indeed the one I loved

"For indeed, the one whom I loved,"

Has with my love overcome me.

"Holds the victory through my love."