تَخرُجُ إِمّا سَفَرَت حاسِراً

تُدِلُّ بِالحُسنِ وَلا تَنتَقِب

Whether you travel dressed up or down

She steps forth, and if she unveils, she walks bare,

Revealing your beauty without a veil

Flaunting her beauty, wearing no veil.

صَيَّرَني عَبداً لَها مُذعِناً

حُبّي لَها وَالحُبُّ شَيءٌ عَجَب

My love for you has made me your obedient slave

She has made me her slave, submissive and yielding,

My love for you is a wondrous thing

My love for her—and love is a wondrous thing.

لَو وَعَدَتني مَوعِداً صادِقاً

أَو كاذِباً بِالجِدِّ أَو بِاللَعِب

If you made me a promise, truthful

If she were to give me a promise, be it true,

Or lies in jest or play

Or a lie, whether spoken in earnest or in play,

ظَنَنتُ أَنّي نِلتُ ما لَم يَنَل

ذو صَبوَةٍ في العُجمِ أَو في العَرَب

I'd think I attained what none attained

I would deem I had won what was never won,

Of wisdom, neither Arab nor foreigner

By any lover, be he foreigner or Arab.