تَعَطُّفاً قَدَّ فُؤادي الأَسَفُ
لَمّا تَثَنّى قَدُّكَ المُهَفهَفُ
Have pity! Sorrow has torn my heart
My heart is overwhelmed with sorrow
when your slender figure swayed.
When your slender figure sways
في كُلِّ عُضوٍ فِيَّ يَعقوبُ أَسىً
إِذ كُلَّ عُضوٍ مِنكَ فيهِ يوسُفُ
In every limb of mine is a Jacob in sorrow,
In every part of me there is agony
for in every limb of yours there is a Joseph.
For each part of you is Joseph
لَحظُكَ وَالقَوامُ يَفعَلانِ ما
يَفعَلُهُ المُرهَفُ وَالمُثَقَّفُ
Your glance and your figure do what
Your glances and your posture do
the keen sword and the straightened spear do.
What the gentle and the cultured do
وَثَغرُكَ اللُؤلُؤُ مَنظوماً إِذا اب
تَسَمتَ لا ما فُضَّ عَنهُ الصَدَفُ
And your mouth is pearls strung together when you
Your lips like lustrous pearls
smile—not pearls whose shells have been split open.
When you smile reveal what shells don’t tell
أَضعَفَ صَبري إِذ بَدَوتَ مُقبِلاً
وَردٌ بِخَدَّيكَ جَنىً مُضَعَّفُ
My patience was weakened when you appeared, approaching,
My patience weakened when you appeared
by a rose on your cheeks—a doubled harvest.
Your cheeks brought a doubled rose
وَردٌ بَديعٌ حُسنُهُ لَكِنَّهُ
لَيسَ بِغَيرِ اللَّحظِ يَوماً يُقطَفُ
A rose of wondrous beauty, yet it
A lovely rose whose beauty though
is never plucked except with a glance.
Is not apart from your glance ever plucked
ما ضَرَّ مَن أَحبَبتهُ لَو أَنَّني
قَبَّلتُهُ فَزالَ عَنّي اللَّهفُ
What harm would it do the one I love if I
Who ever loved was not harmed if I
kissed him, and my yearning left me?
Kissed him and so my yearning fled
لَحظُكَ يا تُركِيُّ يَبري أَسهُماً
لَيسَ لَها إِلّا فُؤادي هَدَفُ
Your glance, O Turk, whittles arrows
Your glance, O Turk, makes arrows fly
that have no target but my heart.
That find no target but my heart
واعَجَباً كَيفَ تَكون صاحِياً
وَمن جَنى ريقَكَ يُجنى القَرقَفُ
O wonder! How can you be sober
How strange that you stay sober still
when strong wine is gathered from the harvest of your saliva?
When he who tastes your saliva gets tipsy
لَو قابَلَت وَجهَكَ عَينُ الشَمسِ في
رَأدِ الضُحى كانَت بِهِ تَنكَسِفُ
If the sun's eye met your face in
Had your face met the sun at dawn
the early forenoon, it would be eclipsed by it.
It would at it have darkened and eclipsed
يَبدو لَنا مِن رِدفِكَ اِرتِجاجُهُ
يَرهَبُ مِنها خَصرُكَ المُستَضعَفُ
The quivering of your buttocks is plain to us;
The quaking of your hips appears to us
your frail waist is afraid of it.
Frightening your weak slender waist
شَغَفتَني حُبّاً وَما أَسعَفتَني
قُرباً وَمِن أَينَ الحَبيبُ المُنصِفُ
You have enthralled me with love, yet have not granted me
You made me love but did not favor me
nearness—and where is a fair beloved to be found?
Where is the lover who is equitable?
تَلافَ مِن قَبلِ التَلافِ مُهجَتي
أَو لا فَإِنّي بِالغَرامِ أَتلَفُ
Save my soul before its destruction,
My mind was destroyed before being destroyed
or do not—for I am perishing of love.
Else I am with love itself destroyed
لا بُدَّ لي مِن زَورَةٍ وَلَو دَنَت
إِلَيَّ أَطرافُ الرِماحِ تَرعُفُ
I must pay a visit, even if there draw near
I needs must pay you a visit
to me the tips of spears, dripping blood.
Though spear points bristle and flap
لَو زُرتُكُم أَسعى عَلى جَمرِ الغَضا
لَم يَهَبِ الحَريقَ قَلبي المُدنَفُ
If I visited you, hastening over embers of ghada wood,
Had I visited you walking on embers’ heat
my lovesick heart would not fear the blaze.
My ardent heart would not take fright
Sol 6.1