يا غُلاماً يريدُ كتما

ني أموراً وقد فشا

O young man who wants to conceal

O lad desiring to conceal

Matters from me though they're exposed

Matters from me that have already spread,

أترى أنّ ما بنا

صمَمٌ عنكَ أو غَشا

Do you think what's between us

Do you imagine that we suffer

Is deafness to you or blindness?

From deafness toward you, or blindness?

قد راينا أمشاجَ طر

فكَ باللمحِ جُمّشا

We've seen the faces of fate

We have observed the mingled signals

In an instant become wrinkled

Of your eye flirting within the glance,

وتهاديك بالرقا

ع إذا خفتَ من وَشا

And your whispering gently

And your exchange of written scraps

When you're scared of harshness

When you feared the slanderer;

حاكياتٍ بطونها

عُرورةً أو مُرَقّشا

Storytellers whose bellies

Their contents mimicking the script

Are either embroidered or painted

Of Urwa or Al-Muraqqish.

بأبي لستُ أنثني

عنكَ يا مشبهَ الرّشا

By my father I won't bend away

By my father! I shall not turn aside

From you, resembling a feather

From you, O likeness of the fawn.

طرفُكَ الفاترُ الفتو

ن لنا صار أعمَشا

Your languid charming glance

Your languid, captivating gaze

Has become blind toward us

Has become bleary-eyed towards us.

ما تراهُ فترعوي

عن هوى شرّ من مَشى

What you see and then shepherd

Do you not see him, that you might refrain

Away from the desire of walking evilly

From loving the worst who walks the earth?

وجدَ اللومَ ضائعاً

فامتلا منهُ واحتشا

He found blame to be lost

He found that blame was wasted on him,

So he became full of it and settled

So he filled and stuffed himself with it.

فإذا ما رأيتَهُ

وهو مستجفل الحشا

So when you see him

So whenever you look upon him

While he is humble and subdued

As he stands with trembling innards,

قلتَ راعٍ لذي اليما

مةِ يستاقُ أكبُشا

You'd say a shepherd of the Owner

You would say: A shepherd of Yamama

Of majesty who fetches sheep

Driving a flock of rams.