هَل بِالنَّقا عَن سُلَيمَى مُذ نأَتْ خَبَرٌ

فَكُلُّ ذي صَبوَةٍ يَرتاحُ لِلخَبَرِ

Has any news come of Sulaima since she went away?

Every infatuated man finds comfort in the news.

وَيْلي مِنَ النَّفَرِ الغادينَ إِذ ظَعَنوا

بِها وَقَلبيَ يَتلوها عَلى الأَثَرِ

Woe is me from the departing company when they marched off,

With her, while my heart recites her name in sequence.

أَلقى الوُشاةَ بِقَلبٍ قُدَّ مِن حَزَنٍ

وَالعاذِلينَ بِطَرفٍ صيغَ مِن سَهَرِ

I met the slanderers with a heart exhausted from grief,

And the censurers with an eye bleary from sleeplessness.

وَأُتبِعُ النَّجمَ يَحكي عِقدَها نَظَراً

وَأَحرِمُ القَمَرَ المألوفَ مِن نَظَري

And I follow the star relating the tale of her jewels in my sight,

And deprive the familiar moon from my gaze.

وَالذِّكرُ مَثَّلَها لِلعَينِ سافِرَةً

وَمَن رآها فَلا يَرنو إِلى القَمَرِ

Remembrance portrays her to the eye traveling,

And he who saw her cannot wish for the moon.