حلو الوعود متى وفاك

أتُراك منجزها تراك

How sweet the promises when you fulfill them

Will I see you keeping them, will I see you?

من كل لفظ لو أذن

ت لأجله قبلت فاك

If every word for which

I agreed to for your sake, kissed your hand

يروى الحلاوة عن ثنا

ياك العذاب وعن لمَاك

It would narrate the sweetness of your affection

And your torment and your blame

رخصت به الدنيا فكيـ

ـف إذا أنالته يداك

I made the world cheap so how

Could it be when your hand attains it?

ظلما أقول جنى الهوى

لم يجن إلا مقلتاك

Unjustly I say the love has wronged

None but my eyelids have been wronged

غدتا منية من رأيـ

ـت ورحت منية من رآك

They became deaths from the one I saw

And they became deaths from the one who saw you

والنفس تهلك مرّة

والنفس يشفيها الهلاك

And the soul dies once

And the soul is healed by death

من علم الأجفان في

أهدابها مدّ الشباك

Who taught the eyelids in

Their coyness to extend the nets?

وتصيّد الآساد بالـ

ـآجام تسلبها الحراك

And hunt the lions with the

Eyes, robbing them of all movement

يا قاسي القلب أتئد

وأقلّ جهدك في جفاك

O stone-hearted one, are you satisfied

While your cruelty in your aloofness is diminished?

ماذا انتفاعي فيك بالـ

ـرحماء من باكٍ وشاك

What is my benefit in you, with the

Merciful one, from a weeping and complaining soul?

نفس قضت في الحب من

أولى برحمتها سواك

A soul that has perished in love

Is more deserving of your mercy than any other