نائية القطوف كلّ نجمة

من شفتي دانية القطوف

The remote buds, each star

O you whose clusters are distant, every star

From my lips is near to the buds

Is a cluster close enough for my lips to gather.

و يا ربيعا من فتون و هوى

طاف الربيع بالهوى فطوفي

And oh spring of charm and passion

O spring of enchantment and passion,

The spring circled around passion so circle

Spring has wandered with love, so wander too.

زارت طيوف منك ثمّ لم تعد

إليك ، جفني شرك الطيوف

Shadows from you visited then did not return

Phantoms of you visited, then did not return

To you, my eyelids companions of shadows

To you; my eyelid is a snare for phantoms.

و يا خطوب الدّهر لا تهوّلي

روّضك الحبّ فلن تخيفي

And oh life's sorrows do not frighten me

And O afflictions of time, do not terrify me;

Your taming by love so you will not frighten me

Love has tamed you, so you will no longer frighten.

كلّ لباناتي طيوف و رؤى

كأنّهنّ شطحات صوفي

All my thoughts are shadows and visions

All my yearnings are but phantoms and visions,

As if they are a Sufi's ecstasies

As though they were the ecstatic utterances of a Sufi.

تحملني غمامة مسحورة

كالبرق عبر أفق مكشوف

Carrying me is an enchanted cloud

An enchanted cloud carries me,

Like lightning across an uncovered horizon

Like lightning across an open horizon.

خمريّة الحرير و الشذا معا

تعجّ من مناي بالألوف

Silken and aromatic wine together

Intoxicating in its silk and fragrance alike,

Overflowing from my cup by the thousands

Swarming with thousands of my desires.

تلثّم الأنجم من أحلامها

بالأرجوان العبق الشفيف

The stars kiss its dreams

It veils the stars from its dreams

With soft, fragrant crimson

With fragrant, translucent purple.

على غناء و رؤى و وتر

ترنّحت ترنّح النزيف

To singing, visions and strings

Upon a song, visions, and the strum of a string,

I swayed, swaying like bleeding

It swayed with the staggering of the drained.

و لا تتيه في الدّجى غمامتي

شوقي دليلي و الضحى رديفي

And do not get lost in the darkness my cloud

And my cloud does not lose its way in the dark;

My longing is my guide and the dawn is my companion

My longing is my guide, and the morning sun rides behind me.

أسأل عنك كوكبا فكوكبا

بنزق المعذّب الملهوف

I ask about you from planet to planet

I ask about you, star after star,

With the moan of the tortured, crazed lover

With the restlessness of the tormented and desperate.

ألفرقدان أنزلاك منهما

على النديم و على الوصيف

The two Aldebarans brought you down from them

Did the two Farqad stars bring you down from themselves

To the boon companion and the cupbearer

To the drinking companion and the servant?

كعبتي السمراء قد لقيتها

بين عويل الجنّ و العزيف

My black Kaaba I found it

My brown Kaaba, I have finally met it

Between the wailing of jinn and the whistling of wind

Amidst the wailing of the jinn and the whistling sands.

فلن تحنّ بعدها لوثن

عبادتي الولهى و لا عكوفي

So after it you will not yearn for an idol

Thus, it will never again yearn for an idol,

My divine worship or my circumambulation

Neither my impassioned worship nor my devotion.

أمرّ فيه و كأنّي لم أكن

أفديه بالتليد و الطريف

I pass by it as if I never was

I pass through it as if I had never been,

I sacrifice it with erosion and decoration

Ransoming it with all that is inherited and newly acquired.

كعبتي السمراء أنت قبلتي

على بليل بالندى و ريف

My black Kaaba, you are my qibla

My brown Kaaba, you are my Qibla

At nightfall with dew and countryside

Upon grounds moist with dew and lush.

حسنك لم يؤلف و لا ألومه

تكبّر الحسن على المألوف

Your beauty was not composed nor do I blame it

Your beauty is unparalleled, and I do not blame it;

Beauty disdained the familiar

Beauty has grown too proud for the familiar.

تبرّجت لك الشفوف دلّها

يا من رأى تبرّج الشفوف

For you sensualities put on make-up, showing them

The sheer garments displayed their coquetry for you,

Oh you who saw the make-up of sensualities

O, whoever has seen the display of sheer garments!

و الأيك حنّ و انحنت و سلّمت

غصونه على القدود الهيف

And oh bend, incline and bow

And the thicket yearned, and bent, and offered greetings

Its branches over the slender, swaying

From its branches to the slender figures.

تحيّة القربى و ما أرقّها

و حنّة الألوف للألوف

The greeting of a relative, and how gentle it is

A greeting of kinship—and how tender it is!—

And the bend of thousands for thousands

And the yearning of the intimate for the intimate.

طارت إليك كبدي محمولة

على جناح الرجز الخفيف

My liver flew to you carried

My heart flew to you, borne

On wings of smooth, rhythmic chant

Upon the wing of the light Rajaz meter.

ألمرقص السماء في عرس الهوى

و الحور ينقرن على الدفوف

Dancing in the sky at passion's wedding

Which makes the heavens dance at the wedding of passion,

And the nymphs tapping on drums

While the houris tap upon the tambourines,

الناثر الأنجم في فرحته

دراهما نهبا على الضيوف

The stars scatter in their joy

Scattering the stars in its joy,

Coins grabbed by the guests

Like dirhams thrown as plunder to the guests.

و ضنّ بالشمس فضمّ يده

حرصا على دينارها المشوف

And the sun was stingy so he clenched

But it was stingy with the sun, closing its hand

His hands greedy for her seen treasure

To hoard its polished dinar.

النغم الناعم في اختصاره

أحلى من المطوّل العنيف

Melody's softness in its conciseness

The soft melody, in its brevity,

Sweeter than the prolonged, rough

Is sweeter than the prolonged and violent one.

و رنوة الحييّ ألف قصّة

عن الهوى و غمزة العفيف

And the doe's whimper a thousand tales

And the glance of the shy tells a thousand stories

Of passion and the wink of the chaste

Of passion, as does the wink of the chaste.

نائية القطوف ، كلّ نجمة

من شفتي دانية القطوف

The remote buds, each star

O you whose clusters are distant, every star

From my lips is near to the buds

Is a cluster close enough for my lips to gather.

الأقحوان ثغرك المندّى

و نحن بالعطر و بالرفيف

Carnations are your smiling mouth

The chamomile is your dewy mouth,

And we are with fragrance and scent

And we are surrounded by perfume and shimmering light.

دعي النصيف و أطلّي (جنّة)

هل تستر الجنّة بالنصيف

Leave plainness and let down your veil

Cast off the veil and appear as Paradise;

Can the veil conceal Paradise?

Is Paradise ever hidden by a veil?

شربت أقداري في مصفّى

سهدك حتّى سكرت حتوفي

I drank my destinies in the strainer

I drank my fates in the pure wine

Of your cheek until I got drunk, tipsily

Of your insomnia, until my demises grew drunk.

تسأل كلّ أيكة جارتها

عن قدّك المهفهف النحيف

Each bud asks its neighbor

Every thicket asks its neighbor

About your swaying, delicate waist

About your lithe and slender figure.

تمّ رشيقا أملدا و لقيت

منه الفضول نظرة العيوف

You walked proudly, tall and found

It became perfectly graceful and supple, and met

From it prying glances of eyes

Prying curiosity with the look of the disdainful.

قدّك و الضمير من سجّية

بورك بالرهيف و الرهيف

Your waist and conscience from naturalness

Your figure and your slender waist share a single nature;

Blessed be the slender and the slender

Blessed be the delicate and the delicate!

و الناهدان و ثبا كرصد

على الكنوز الحالمات يوفي

And the two breasts jumped like tracking

And the two rising breasts leaped up like guards,

Treasures dreaming of fulfillment

Keeping watch over the dreaming treasures.

تحالفا تصوّنا و عزّة

و امتنع الحليف بالحليف

Allied, protected and dignified

They allied in chastity and pride,

The ally refused with an ally

And the ally grew unapproachable through the ally.

مضمّخان خمرة و شهدا

أهكذا يصمد للزحوف

Soaked in wine and honey

Anointed with wine and honey,

Is this how to withstand assaults?

Is this how one withstands advancing armies?

أذكى بقلبي إن خبا لهيبه

جمر الغضا أو دمعه اللهيف

I kindle my heart if its flame dies out

It kindles within my heart, should its flame die down,

A coal of sorrow or its subtle tear

The embers of ghada wood or its sorrowful tear.

هل يسمح الضحى ببعض ظلّه

قد طال في هجيره وقوفي

Does dawn allow some of its shadow?

Will the morning sun permit some of its shadow?

Prolonged has been my standing and waiting

My standing in its midday heat has lasted too long.

أحمل في مجامري بخورها

هديّة المشرّد الضعيف

I carry in my eyelids its incense

I carry its incense in my censers,

A gift from the weak, wandering stranger

The gift of the weak and outcast.

و لبنا من فضّة و لبنا

من ذهب لقصرك المنيف

And milk of silver and milk

And a brick of silver, and a brick

Of gold for your lofty palace

Of gold, for your lofty palace.

تعطّري فهذه صبابتي

و اكتحلي فهذه حروفي

Perfume yourself for this is my phial

Perfume yourself, for this is my longing,

And line your eyes for these are my letters

And wear kohl, for these are my letters.