يرافقني سرابك أريحيّا

فأغمر بالرحيق و بالملاب

Your mirage accompanies me gently,

Your mirage accompanies me generously,

So I am immersed in perfume and garment.

So I am immersed in nectar and perfume.

سراب أسمر القسمات هان

نديّ اللمح ورديّ الحباب

A tanned mirage, soft in features,

A gentle mirage with tanned features,

Gentle in gesture, rosy in love.

Dewy of glance, with rosy bubbles.

يزوّق لي الرّمال جنى و ظلاّ

و يغمز بالكؤوس و بالشراب

It beautifies the sands for me with harvest and shade,

It adorns the sands for me with harvest and shade,

And winks at me with cups and drinks.

And beckons with cups and with wine.

و قطّف ما ينور من طيوف

على أجفان ناهدة كعاب

And plucked what illuminates from specters,

And plucks the blossoming phantoms

On sleepy eyelids like a fortress.

Upon the eyelids of a full-breasted maiden.

و علّل بالرجاء فكان أحنى

عليّ من الأحبّة و الصحاب

And justified hope, so it became more compassionate to me

It consoled me with hope, proving more tender

Than loved ones and companions.

To me than loved ones and friends.

محا حقد الهجير على الصحارى

و وحدتي المريرة و اغترابي

It erased the exile’s hatred of the deserts

It erased the malice of the midday heat over the deserts,

And my bitter loneliness and estrangement.

And my bitter loneliness, and my alienation.

فيا نعمى القلوب و لا أداري

و يا نعمى العيون و لا أحابي

So O comfort of hearts, though I have no knowledge,

Oh, the bliss of hearts! And I do not dissemble,

And O comfort of eyes, though I have no companions.

And oh, the bliss of eyes! And I show no flattery.

سرابك رحمة و منى حسان

سكبن طيوبهنّ على عذابي

Your mirage is mercy and favor,

Your mirage is a mercy and beautiful desires

Its aromas poured on my torment.

That poured their fragrances upon my torment.

أحثّ خطاي في اللّهب المدمّى

إلى أفيائه الخضر الرطاب

I urge my steps into the reddened blaze,

I hasten my footsteps through the blood-red flame

To its green oases, moist with dew.

Toward its moist, green shades.

سقى عيني متارفه و روّى

ظماء الرمل بالنطف العذاب

It quenched my eyes with its vista, and watered

It gave my eyes its luxuries to drink, and quenched

The thirsty sands with dripping drops.

The thirst of the sand with sweet, pure drops.

فلو كان الشباب كما عهدنا

و هبت جزاء نعمته شبابي

If youth were as we knew it,

If youth were still as we once knew it,

And I paid back its favor with my youth,

I would have given my youth as a reward for its grace.

بكيت من السراب فحين ولّى

و أوحدني . بكيت على السراب

I would have wept at the mirage, when it turned

I wept from the mirage, yet when it departed

And left me alone. I would have wept for the mirage,

And left me alone, I wept for the mirage.

و أشقاني اليقين فيا حنيني

إلى الخدع المنضّرة السوابي

And certainty grieved me. So oh my yearning

And certainty brought me misery; oh, my longing

For the lush green delusions!

For those fresh, captivating illusions!

مغان للسراب خفين إلاّ

طيوف الجنّ في الةهج المذاب

Deceits for the mirage, hidden, except

Abodes of the mirage that remained hidden, except

The specters of jinn in dissolved sands.

As phantoms of jinn in the molten glare.

أتمحو يا سراب خطاك ... هوج

مواح للمعالم و القباب

Fade, oh mirage, your steps... Passion

Are your footsteps, O mirage, erased by raging winds

For landmarks and domes.

That sweep away landmarks and domes?

يدلّ على خطاك شذا و حبّ

فأرشف ما وطئن من التراب

Your steps indicated by a scent and love,

A fragrance and a love point to your footsteps,

So I inhale what your soles trod of dust.

So I sip the dust that they have trodden.

سقى اللخ السراب وفاء قلبي

و عطر سريرتي و صبا ربابي

The mirage watered the night shadows with my heart’s loyalty,

May God water the mirage with the loyalty of my heart,

And the scent of my conscience and youth of my passion.

And the perfume of my inner soul, and the melody of my rebec.

و نضّره بأندى من دموعي

و دللّه بأنعم من عتابي

And it nurtured it with the dew of my tears,

May He make it radiant with dew moister than my tears,

And pampered it with the most gentle of my reproach.

And pamper it with something softer than my reproach.

بما بين الجوانح من حنين

ملحّ في الشهود و في الغياب

With what is between my ribs of yearning,

By the longing held within my ribs,

Salted in witnessing and in absence.

Persistent in presence and in absence.

بنار تدلّهي ، برؤى جنوني

بإيماني بحبّك ، بارتيابي

With the fire that excites me, the visions of my madness,

By the fire of my infatuation, by the visions of my madness,

My faith in your love, my suspicion.

By my faith in your love, by my doubt.

بوجهك و هو نور في صلاتي

بهمسك و هو ورد في كتابي

With your face, and it is light in my prayers,

By your face, which is a light in my prayer,

With your whisper, and it is a rose in my book.

By your whisper, which is a litany in my book.

بعزّة لوعتي ، بحياء حزني

بسكري عند لمحك و اضطرابي

With the dignity of my torment, the shyness of my grief,

By the pride of my anguish, by the modesty of my sorrow,

My intoxication when I glimpse you and my discomposure.

By my intoxication at your glimpse, and my agitation.

بأنداء الصّباح منمنمات

بما سكب الربيع على الروابي

With the melodies of dawn murmuring,

By the morning dews, intricately patterned,

With what spring poured on the meadows.

By what the spring has poured upon the hills.

سقى الله السراب منى بروحي

على الحرمان زاخرة العباب

The mirage watered from me with my soul,

May God water the mirage with desires from my soul,

On deprivation, abundant clouds.

Swelling with waves despite the deprivation.

فيصبح و هم نعمته يقينا

و تستغني الرمال عن السحاب

So it becomes, and its blessing is certainty,

So that the illusion of its grace becomes a certainty,

And the sands can do without clouds.

And the sands no longer need the clouds.

و تلثم ما أسبّح من شفاه

و ترشف ما أقدّس من رضاب

And it kisses what I chant from my lips,

And you kiss the lips that I glorify,

And sips what I sanctify of prose.

And sip the nectar I hold sacred.

هواي سجيّة و شباب قلب

و جلّ صبا القلوب عن التصابي

It is my disposition and youthful heart,

My love is an innate nature and the youth of a heart,

And the prime of hearts, without affectation.

And the youth of hearts is too exalted for childish infatuation.

خضبت بلون سمرتك المصفّى

حياتي و المحبّب من رغابي

My life was dyed with your refined tan complexion,

I have dyed with the pure color of your tanned skin

And what is most lovely of my wishes.

My life, and the most beloved of my desires.

و لامك عندنا قوم و عابوا

يجلّ النور عن لوم و عاب

And your blame to us is a tribe who denounced—

And people among us have blamed you and found fault,

Light is too lofty for blame and denouncement.

But light is too exalted for blame and fault.

و أنت النور في عيني و قلبي

على حاليك من شهد و صاب

You are the light in my eye and heart,

And you are the light in my eyes and my heart,

However you are, of honey or vinegar.

In both your states, of honey and bitter sap.

سريرتك الضياء بلا غروب

و عيناك الغيوب بلا حجاب

Your conscience is radiance without sunset,

Your inner soul is a light without a sunset,

And your eyes are mysteries without veils.

And your eyes are the unseen mysteries without a veil.

وقفت بباب جاهك مطمئنا

كأنّ الدّهر و الدنيا ببابي

I stood at the door of your glory reassured,

I stood at the door of your glory, reassured,

As if fate and the world were at my door.

As though destiny and the world were at my door.