حبيبيَ ذاك البدر إذ وافَقَ النِّصفا

فألبستَه ثوباً من الذلِّ فاستخفى

My love, that full moon when it rose to oppose the half

You clothed him in a garment of humility, so he was eclipsed

وظنوا به خَسفاً وكان احوراره

تخلِّيه من تنوير وجهك لا كسفا

And they thought him waning, yet he was still full

Deprived of your face's illumination, not veiled

وظَنَّكَ بدراً قد أتيتَ بعَزله

فذلَّ لكي يدعو له الناسُ أن يُكفى

And they mistook you for a full moon that came without its pair

So he humbled himself that people might spare him

ولمّا صرفتَ الوجهَ عنه تكبُّراً

رأينا لذاك اللون عن وجهه صرفا

When you turned your face from him disdainfully

We saw that hue leave his face, a diversion

فيا قمراً أزرى على قمر الدجى

برعتَ بحسنٍ ما نطيق له وصفا

O you, a resentful moon over the moon of nightfall

Excelling in beauty beyond any description

ملاحة شكلٍ فوق تقويم حاجبٍ

تَرى بين هذين الملاحةَ والظَّرفا

The sprightliness of a form above refined eyebrows

You see between these two sprightliness and grace

فلو كانت الدنيا عروساً وحُلِّيَت

لتُجلى عليها كنتَ أنتَ لها شفّا

If this world were a bride adorned in finery

You would have been her unveiling, you her delight

تدلّ علينا في الملاحة بالهوى

فتعصي ولا تُعصَى وتجفو ولا تُجفى

Winking at us in coquetry with love

Disobeying yet unchastised, frowning yet undetested

فبي سَقَمٌ من سُقم عينيك لا يُشفى

على حَرَقٍ من نار خدَّيك لا يُطفى

In me is sickness from the illness of your eyes, incurable

On burns from the fire of your cheeks, inextinguishable

ومن أين يخفى عنك عشقٌ لعاشقٍ

وعينُك عينٌ تعرف السرَّ والأخفى

How can love for a lover be hidden from you

When your eye is an eye that knows the secret and hidden?

فواعجباً من لحظ طرفك إنه

إذا زاد ضعفاً زاد قوتنا ضعفا

Astounding is the glance of your eyelid

For if it grows weaker, it strengthens our weakness further

وأعجب من هذين ردفك كلّما

ترجرج زاد الخصر من فوقه لطفا

And astounding are these two plump parts

For the fuller they become, the slenderer grows the waist between

فيا شكل ذا خصراً ويا ثقل ذا ردفاً

ويا حسن ذا خدّاً ويا نَبل ذا طرفا

O shape with a slender waist, O heaviness with plumpness

O beauty with cheek, O grace with eyelid

ويا طيبَ أنفاسٍ على حسن مَضحكٍ

فذا المسك بل أذكى وذا الدرُّ بل أصفى

O sweetness of breath above a laughing beauty

This is musk, no, it is more fragrant, this is pearl, no, it is purer

ويا خمر ريقٍ فوقه ورد وجنةٍ

فمَن لي بذا رشفاً ومن لي بذا قطفا

O wine of saliva above which is a rose garden

Who can offer me a sip of it, who a pluck?

بدأتَ بإحسان فجُد بتمامه

وإن الفتى من لا يكدِّرُ ما صَفّى

You began with kindness, so persist to its completion

For the gentleman is one who does not taint what he refines

فهذا الهوى عيش المحبِّ إذا صَفا

ولكن إذا لم يصفُ كان له حتفا

This love is the livelihood of the lover when pure

But if impure, it will be his demise