هَلْ تَعلَمُ النَّاسُ أَنّي في صِيامِيَ قَد

صَبَوْتُ عِشْقاً إلى بَيضاءَ كالقَمَرِ

Do people know that in my fast I have

Poured love for a fair one like the moon?

حَوْراءُ تَنظُرُ في المِرآةِ طَلْعَتَها

يَا هذهِ ليسَ هذا الجِنْسُ لِلبَشَرِ

A houri looking in the mirror at her beauty -

O this one is not of human kind!

وَرُبَّما قُلِيَتْ مِنّي وَمَوْضِعُها

أَدْنى لِقَلْبي مِن سَمْعي وَمِن بَصَري

Maybe she has been created from me, yet her place

Is closer to my heart than my hearing or sight.

وَصَائِن في إزارٍ صَانَ بَهّجَتها

فَقلْتُ لَيْسَ يُصَانُ الحُسْنُ بالأُزُرِ

Modest in a robe that concealed her splendor

So I said, “Beauty is not concealed by robes.”

بَاتَتْ وَعَيْشِكَ في صَدْرِي فَما بَرِحَتْ

مِن العَشَاءِ علَى حُكْمِي إلى سَحَرِ

She spent the night while you were in my breast; she did not

Leave from evening by my rule until dawn.

أَشْكُو لها نَارَ قَلبي وَهْيَ شْاكِيَةٌ

أَضْعَافَها وَكِلانا صَادِقُ الخَبَرِ

I complain to her of the fire in my heart while she

Complains multiples of it - both of us speaking true.

وأَسْتبيحُ حِمَاهَا غَيْرَ مُقْتَرِفٍ

ذَنْباً مِن اللَّهِ في وِرْدٍ ولا صَدَرِ

And I make lawful her protection without

Committing a sin against God in rhythm or prose.

حتَّى إذا ثَوَّبَ الدَّاعِي نَهضْتُ وقد

خِفْنا نَمِيمَةَ طِيبٍ فَوقَها عَطِرِ

Until when the caller to prayer awoke I arose and we

Smelt the sweet scent of perfume upon perfume.

فَلا غَدا القَطْرُ مَغْناها وَمَنزِلَها

لا بَلْ أَقولُ غَداها وابِلُ المَطَرِ

Neither tomorrow will the rain be her shelter and dwelling

But rather I say tomorrow and the downpour of rain.

وَلا لَحَى اللَّهُ مَن يُدْني زِيارَتَها

مِنّي فَما فِيهِ مِن وِزْرٍ وَلا خَطَرِ

May Allah not greet whoever brings his visit

Closer to her than me - in it is no burden or danger.