لي عاذِلٌ في الحُبِّ ما أَعذَلَه
وَعَن طَريقِ العَدلِ ما أَعدَلَه
I have a reproacher in love—how reproachful he is!
I have a critic in love, how unfair his criticism!
And how far he strays from the path of justice!
And how far from the path of justice his judgment strays!
يَطمَعُ جَهلاً أَن يُرى طارِداً
عُطارِداً عَن طالِعِ السَّنبُلَه
He ignorantly hopes to be seen driving
He foolishly hopes to be seen as one who chases away,
Mercury away from Virgo's ascendant.
Venus away from the rising ear of wheat.
جارِيَةٌ جائِرَةٌ في الهَوى
وَجَنكُها المُطرِبُ ما أَعدَلَه
A maiden, unjust in love;
A wayward, unjust beloved,
and her enchanting harp—how just it is!
Whose melodious lute, how fair it plays!
كَأَنَّها في جَسِّ أَوتارِهِ
بقراطُ يَبغي نَبضَ مَن عَلَّلَه
As though, in feeling its strings, she were
As if its strings were, in their resonant hollow,
Hippocrates, seeking the pulse of one he has nursed.
Hippocrates, seeking the pulse of one he examines.
ما أَحمَقَ العاذِلَ في رَأيِهِ
فَهوَ بِلا شَكٍّ شَديدُ البَلَه
How foolish the reproacher is in his judgment!
How foolish is the critic in his opinion!
For he is, without doubt, exceedingly witless.
He is, without doubt, exceedingly confused.
مَن مُنصِفي من حُبِّ جنكِيَّة
لِلقَلبِ من أَوتارِها زَلزَلَه
Who will give me justice against love for a harpist,
Who judges fairly the love for my melodious one?
whose strings set the heart quaking?
For the heart, her strings cause tremors.
أَوتارُها تَقتُلُ زُوارَها
تَجني عَلَيهِم وَلَها وَلوَلَه
Her strings kill her visitors;
Her strings kill her visitors,
they do them harm, and theirs is a wail.
She is unfair to them, to her the blame lays.
مَريضَةُ الأَجفانِ فَتّانَةٌ
وَطَرفُها الوَسنانُ ما أَقتَلَه
Languid-eyed and bewitching,
Sickly-eyed seductress,
and her drowsy gaze—how deadly it is!
Her glancing eyelash, how murderous its ways!
وَوَجهُها لَو قابَلَ البَدرَ في
تمامِهِ عادَ وَقَد أَخجَلَه
And if her face met the full moon in
Her face, if it met the full moon,
its fullness, it would return having shamed the moon.
Would send it back shamed and abashed.
وَقَدُّها مُعتَدِلٌ مِثلُ غُص
نِ البانِ سُبحانَ الَّذي عَدَّلَه
And her figure is well proportioned, like a branch
Her stature is perfectly proportioned, like a delicate
of the moringa—glory to Him who shaped it!
Branch of sweet basil. Glory to Him who created it!
تَهُزُّ غُصناً في كَثيبِ النَقا
دَلالُها في رَقصِها مَيَّلَه
She sways a branch upon a sand dune;
She sways a bough on a sand dune.
her coy grace, as she dances, has made it bend.
Her coquetry in her dance has inclined it.
فَمَن يَقُل أَنَّ لَها مُشبِهاً
في الحُسنِ في العالَمِ ما أَجهَلَه
So whoever says that she has an equal
Who can say that she has a equal
in beauty in the world—how ignorant he is!
In beauty in all the world? How ignorant his claim!
في القَلبِ نيرانُ الهَوى كُلَّما
ذَكَرتُها مُوقَدَةٌ مُشعَلَه
In the heart, the fires of passion, whenever
In my heart, the fires of passion, whenever
I recall her, are kindled and set ablaze.
I remember her, blaze in flames.
فَمَن رَآها مِن جَميعِ الوَرى
في مَجلِسٍ أَدرَكَ ما أَمَّلَه
So whoever among all humankind has seen her
Whoever saw her among all creation
at a gathering has attained what he hoped for.
In a gathering, attained what he hoped.
كَأَنَّها الوَردُ وَأَيّامُهُ
ما أَحسَنَ الوَردَ وَما أَفضَلَه
She is like the rose and its days;
She is like the rose in its season,
how beautiful the rose is, and how excellent!
How excellent is the bloom of a rose, how sublime!
في خَدِّها الوَردُ جَنياً بِلا
رَيبٍ فَيا طوبى لِمَن قَبَّلَه
On her cheek the rose is ripe for plucking, without
In her cheek, the rose is picked, undoubtedly,
a doubt—oh, blessed is whoever kisses it!
So blessings to him who kissed it!
وَريقُها الراحُ وَلَكِنَّ مَن
حَرَّمَها في كَأسِها حَلَّلَه
And her saliva is wine, yet the one who
Her saliva is wine, but he who
forbade it in its cup has made her saliva lawful.
Deprived her of it in her cup, made it lawful.
وَالوَردُ ما أَقصَرَ أَيّامَهُ
وَعُمرُهُ في الهَجرِ ما أَطوَلَه
And the rose—how short its days!
How brief are the days of a rose!
Yet its life in separation—how long it is!
And its lifetime in estrangement, how long!
Sol 6.1