من نعمياتك لي ألف منوّعة

و كلّ واحدة دنيا من النور

Your blessings upon me are a thousandfold

Of your graces towards me, there are a thousand varied ones,

Each one a world of light

And every single one is a world of light.

رفعتني بجناحي قدرة و هوى

لعالم من رؤى عينيك مسحور

You raised me up on the wings of power and passion

You lifted me on wings of power and passion

To a world spellbound by the visions of your eyes

To an enchanted world made of the visions of your eyes.

تعبّ من حسنه عيني فإن سكرت

أغفت على سندسيّ من أساطير

My eyes grow weary from such beauty that when they close

My eyes drink deeply of its beauty, and when intoxicated,

I sleep upon your silken legends and myths

They slumber upon a silken tapestry of legends.

أخادع النّوم إشفاقا على حلم

حان على الشفة اللمياء مخمور

I cheat sleep for fear of waking from a dream

I fend off sleep out of concern for a dream

That lingered, intoxicated, upon my lips

That lingered upon the dark-red lips, intoxicated.

وزار طيفك أجفاني فعطّرها

يا للطيوف الغريرات المعاطير

And your phantom visited my eyelids, sweetening them

And your phantom visited my eyelids, perfuming them;

O spectral visitors, so fragrant and perfumed!

Oh, the innocence of those heavily scented phantoms!

طيوبها في زيارات الرؤى نزلت

من مقلتيّ على أصفى القوارير

Their sweetness on visions' visits descended

Their fragrances, in the visitations of visions, descended

From my lashes into the purest glass

From my eyes upon the purest of crystal flasks.

كأنّ همسك في ريّاه وشوشة

دار النسيم بها بين الأزاهير

As if your whispers in the winds and rustling

As if your whisper, in its lushness, is a murmur

Circulated amongst the flowers

Carried by the breeze among the blossoms.

تندى البراءة فيه فهو منسكب

من لغو طفل و من تغريد عصفور

Innocence flows in it, spilled

Innocence is bedewed within it, pouring forth

From a child's babble and the twitter of a bird

From the prattle of a child and the chirping of a bird.

رشفت صوتك في قلبي معتّقة

لم تعتصر و ضياء غير منظور

I have long savored your voice in my heart

I sipped your voice in my heart like an aged wine

Never pressed, but bright in ways unseen

That was never pressed, and like an unseen light.

لو كنت في جنّة الفردوس واحدة

من حورها لتجلىّ الله للحور

If I were one of the Houris in Paradise

Had you been but one in the Garden of Paradise

I would shine before the Houris in divine light

Among its houris, God would have revealed Himself to the houris.

خلقتني من صبابات مدلهة

ظمأى الحنين إلى دلّ و تغرير

You created me from dangling grapevines

You forged me from bewildered, passionate desires,

My yearning thirst for a vine's droop and trail

Thirsty with longing for coquetry and teasing allure.

فكيف اغفلت قلبي من تجلّده

لمّا تولّيت أبداعي و تصويري ؟

How then did you ignore my heart in its resolve

So how did you neglect my heart's endurance

When you were crafting my creativity and painting?

When you undertook my creation and my shaping?

و كيف تشكين من حبّي غوايته

و أنت كوّنت تفكيري و تعبيري

And how can you complain that my love leads me astray

And how can you complain of my love's seduction,

When you were the one who shaped my thoughts and expressions?

When you are the one who formed my thoughts and expressions?

و هل تريدين روحي هدأة و ونى

فكيف أنشأت روحي من أعاصير ؟

And do you want my soul calm and tranquil

Do you wish my soul to be still and languid,

When you composed my spirit from storms?

When you have created my soul out of hurricanes?

ألفت نفسي على ما صغت جوهرها

يا غربتي عند تحويري و تغييري !

I am used to the essence you poured into my being

I attuned my soul to the essence you forged for it;

O my estrangement in my twisting and changing!

Oh, my estrangement if I am altered and changed!

كبّرت للطلعة النشوى أسبّحها

أكان لله أم للحسن تكبيري

I cried "Glory!" for the radiant new moon I praised

I proclaimed God's greatness before the ecstatic face, praising it—

Was it for God or for beauty that I glorified?

Was my proclamation of greatness for God, or for beauty?

يا طفلة الروح : حبّات القلوب فدى

ذنب لحسنك عند الله مغفور

O spirit-child: the hearts that pine for your beauty

O child of the soul: the cores of hearts are a ransom

Will be forgiven by God however heavy their sins

For a sin of your beauty that God has forgiven.

آثامك الخفرات البيض لو جليت

لطور موسى لندّت ذروة الطور

If your immaculate errors were exposed

Your shy, white sins, if they were revealed

The peak of Mount Sinai would shake and tremble

To the Mount of Moses, the mount's peak would have melted into dew.

كأنّها أقحوانات منضّرة

بمخضب عبق الريحان ممطرة

As if they were verdant broken branches

It is as if they are radiant daisies

Dripping with fragrant basil-scented rain

Rained upon by the fragrant dye of basil.

يا نجمة تختفي حينا و تشرق لي

حينا أفانين تعريف و تنكير

O star that hides from me awhile and then shines

O star that hides sometimes, and sometimes shines upon me

With sudden glimpses of recognition and denial!

In varieties of familiarity and disguise.

لقد هجرت أخاك الفجر و انتبهت

شمس الصباح على أنّات مهجور

You abandoned your brother dawn and awoke

You have abandoned your brother, the dawn, and awakened

The morning sun with forgotten sighs

The morning sun to the moans of the forsaken.

من موطن النّور هذا الحسن أعرفه

حلو الشمائل قدسيّ الأسارير

I know this beauty's source must be heavenly

From the homeland of light, I recognize this beauty:

So sweet of form, so sacred of lineage

Sweet in traits, sacred in its lineaments.

ففي السماء على مطلول زرقتها

أرى مساحب ذيل منك مجرور

For in the sky, on its boundless blue

For in the sky, upon its bedewed blueness,

I see a trail of clouds dragged from your gown

I see the trailing sweep of a garment dragged by you.

لا تجزعي من مقادير مخبّأة

حنا يدلّلنا ظلم المقادير

Do not fret o’er the dealings of dark fate

Do not despair of hidden destinies;

Destinies caress where they once condemned

The injustice of destinies has leaned down to pamper us.

عندي كنوز حنان لا نفاد لها

أنهبتها كلّ مظلوم و مقهور

I have endless treasures of affection

I have treasures of tenderness that are inexhaustible;

Lavished on all the wronged and the oppressed

I let them be plundered by every oppressed and vanquished soul.

أعطي بذلّة محروم فوا لهفي

لسائل يغدق النعماء منهور

I give generously to those deprived, so pity me!

I give with the humility of the deprived, so oh, my sorrow

I pour blessings on petitioners galore

For a beggar showering blessings while being rebuked.

جواهري في العبير السكب مغفية

من الونى بعد تغليس و تهجير

My jewels lie dormant, steeped in fragrance

My jewels, in the pouring perfume, are slumbering

Lost in separation's bliss after being secreted away

From exhaustion, after traveling through the dawn and midday heat.

تاهت عن العنق الهاني فأرشدها

إلى سناه حنين النور للنور

They strayed from the tender neck, so I returned them

They strayed from the blissful neck, but were guided

To the welcoming lips of light for light

To its radiance by the longing of light for light.