قَلبٌ بِوادي الحِمى خَلَّفتِهِ رَمِقاً

ماذا صَنَعتِ بِهِ يا ظَبيَةَ البانِ

A heart I left in the valley of love, barely alive,

What have you done to it, O gazelle of the dunes?

أَحنى عَلَيكِ مِنَ الكُثبانِ فَاِتَّخِذي

عَلَيهِ مَرعاكِ مِن قاعٍ وَكُثبانِ

It bent over you more than the sand dunes, so make

Your pasture on it, in hollow and dune.

غَرَّبتِهِ فَوَهى جَنبي لِفُرقَتِهِ

وَحَنَّ لِلنازِحِ المَأسورِ جُثماني

You made it a stranger, so my side grew weak with its loss,

And my body yearned for the captive driven away.

لا رَدَّهُ اللَهُ مِن أَسرٍ وَمِن خَبَلٍ

إِن كانَ في رَدِّهِ صَحوي وَسُلواني

May God not return it from captivity and madness

If in its return are not my sanity and delight.

دَلَّهتِهِ بِعَزيزٍ في مَحاجِرِهِ

ماضٍ لَهُ مِن مُبينِ السِحرِ جَفنانِ

You seduced it with a proud one in his castles,

A sorcerer whose eyelids poured magic.

رَمى فَضَجَّت عَلى قَلبي جَوانِحُهُ

وَقُلنَ سَهمٌ فَقالَ القَلبُ سَهمانِ

He shot, and his claws clamored against my heart,

And it said “One arrow,” but my heart said “Two arrows.”

يا صورَةَ الحورِ في جِلبابِ فانِيَةٍ

وَكَوكَبَ الصُبحِ في أَطافِ إِنسانِ

O image of maidens in a vanishing gown,

And morning star in human orbits!

مُري عَصِيَّ الكَرى يَغشى مُجامَلَةً

وَسامِحي في عِناقِ الطَيفِ أَجفانِ

Pass by the stubbornness of fate, covering gracefully,

And forgive, in embracing the ghost, my eyelids.

فَحَسبُ خَدّي مِن عَينَيَّ ما شَرِبا

فَمِثلُ ما قَد جَرى لَم تَلقَ عَينانِ

It is enough that my cheeks drank from my eyes

What no two eyes have drunk before.