دَعني أَمُت بِالهَوى لا يَلحَني لاحِ
لَيسَ المَشوقُ إِلى الأَحبابِ كَالصاحي
Let me die of passion; let no reproacher blame me.
Let me die of love, and no reproach afflict me,
One who yearns for loved ones is not like the sober-minded.
For yearning after loved ones is no shame.
لَو كُنتَ تَطرَبُ لَم تُنكِر بُكا طَرِبٍ
صَبٍّ عَلى نَفسِهِ بِالشِعرِ نَوّاحِ
If you knew passion's rapture, you would not condemn the tears of one enthralled,
Had you known desire, you'd not deny the weeping
a lovesick man lamenting himself in verse.
Of one whose soul is seared by passion's flame.
خَفِّض جَشاكَ عَلى نَأيِ الدُنُوِّ بِها
آلَيتُ أُدني نَصيحاً ما وَحى واحِ
Calm your agitation over the remoteness of drawing near her;
Lower your gaze before the absence hurts me;
I have sworn never to admit a counselor, as long as any speaker speaks.
I've heeded wisdom none revealed or spoke.
قَد هَرَّ قَبلَكَ كَلبٌ دونَ حُجرَتِها
فَهَل فَزِعتُ لِكَلبٍ مَرَّ نَبّاحِ
A dog growled before you outside her chamber;
A dog once barked before her dwelling's portal;
did I take fright at a barking dog that passed?
Should I be frightened then by dogs that croak?
أَبى لِيَ اللَعَجُ المَشبوبُ في كَبِدي
وَفي فُؤادي وَأَوصالي وَأَرواحي
The burning anguish kindled in my liver would not let me yield—
My twisted viscera will give me no respite,
and in my heart, my limbs, and my spirits.
No peace within my heart, my frame, my self.
أَرتاحُ لِلريحِ إِن هَبَّت يَمانِيَةً
وَأَنتَ عِندي رَخيمٌ غَيرُ مُرتاحِ
I thrill to the wind if it blows from Yemen,
The gentle breeze delights when blowing southward;
yet you, in my view, are soft-voiced and unmoved.
But you are to me a wind of discontent.
لا أَسمَعُ الصَوتَ إِلّا صَوتَ جارِيَةٍ
تَدعو إِلى أَسَدٍ مِن حُبِّها شاحِ
I hear no voice but the voice of a young woman,
No sound I hear except a maid calling
calling to a lion gaping with love for her.
To lion she so loves, her soul on fire.
كَأَنَّما اِنتَزَعَت حُبّي بِدَعوَتِها
كَأَنَّها جَبَلٌ مِن دونِ نُصّاحي
As though she snatched my love with her call,
As though her plea my passion were extracting,
as though she were a mountain between me and my counselors.
A mountain formed of flames, yet without pyre.
رَيّا الروادِفِ مِلواحٌ مُنَعَّمَةٌ
يا حَبَّذا كُلُّ رَيّا الرِدفِ مِلواحِ
Full-hipped, slender-waisted, delicately nurtured—
O beautiful the knolls supple and beauteous!
ah, how lovely is every full-hipped, slender-waisted woman!
Would that each knoll were like a supple thigh!
لَم تَرثِ لي مِن جَوى حُبٍّ وَقَد ضَحِكَت
عَن بارِدٍ كَوَميضِ البَرقِ لَمّاحِ
She did not pity my anguish of love, though she smiled,
Your passing smile no love-desire sparked me,
revealing cool teeth, gleaming like a lightning flash.
Like lightning's gleam, that flashes from the sky.
كَأَنَّ في طَرفِ عَينَيها إِذا نَظَرَت
بِناظِرٍ عُقَداً مِن سِحرِ سَبّاحِ
As though in the glance of her eyes, when she looks
As if within her eyes resides a charm, that snares,
with her gaze, lie knots of Sabbah's magic.
When she but glances, binding spells that daze.
تَسُرُّ عَيناً وَتَلقى الشَمسَ غَيبَتَها
كَأَنَّما خُلِقَت مِن ضَوءِ مِصباحِ
She delights the eye and meets the sun at its setting,
Her eye gives joy, and meets the absent sun
as though she were created from the light of a lamp.
As though created of a lamp's pure rays.
أُمسي أُؤَمِّلُ جَدواها فَتُخلِفُني
وَما أَزالُ كَما أَمسَيتُ إِصباحي
At evening I hope for her favor, but she disappoints me;
My hopes in her each eve I place, but morning
and at dawn I remain just as I was at evening.
Finds her betraying all I hoped to gain.
وَكَيفَ يُخلِفُ مَأمولٌ لَهُ شَرَفٌ
مِن بَعدِ ما قالَ خَيراً لِاِمرِئٍ ناحِ
How can a noble one, in whom hope is placed, disappoint,
Can one of noble ways fail and abandon
after speaking kindly to a man who comes seeking?
What good he's promised souls who cry in pain?
يَلومُني صاحِبي فيها وَقَد فَتَحَت
إِلى الصَبابَةِ لي باباً بِمِفتاحِ
My companion blames me for her, though she has opened
My friend reproves me for my love of her
for me a door to passionate longing, with a key.
Who opened wide the door of youth for me.
خاضَت مِنَ الحُبِّ ضَحضاحاً وَما رَضِيَت
حَتّى جَشِمتُ إِلَيها غَيرَ ضَحضاحِ
She waded into love's shallows, and was not content
She deeply drank of love and was not sated
until I braved deep waters to reach her.
Till I could swallow not a sip but sea.
تَسَوَّكَت لي بِمِسواكٍ لِتُعلِمَني
ما طَعمُ فيها وَما هَمَّت بِإِصلاحِ
She brushed her teeth for me with a tooth-stick, to let me know
She came to me with toothpick, feigning
the taste of her mouth; she had no thought of cleaning.
To teach me how it tasted - what her aim.
لَمّا أَتَتني عَلى المِسواكِ ريقَتُها
مَثلوجَةَ الطَعمِ مِثلَ الشَهدِ بِالراحِ
When her saliva reached me on the tooth-stick,
But when she put it in her mouth, its flavor
icy-cool to the taste, like honey with wine,
Was sweet as honey mixed with scent of camphor.
قَبَّلتُ ما مَسَّ فاها ثُمَّ قُلتُ لَهُ
يالَيتَني كُنتُ ذا المِسواكَ يا صاحِ
I kissed what had touched her mouth, then said to it:
I kissed what her lips touched, and then exclaimed:
"If only I were this tooth-stick, my friend!"
Would that I were this toothpick in her mouth!
قُل لِلرَبابِ اِرجِعي روحي إِلى جَسَدي
أَو عَلِّليني بِوَجهٍ مِنكِ وَضّاحِ
Tell al-Rabab: "Return my soul to my body,
Say to my soul: return now to my body,
or console me with your radiant face.
Or argue me with glances that explain.
عَلى الوَساوِسِ تُعفيني وَتَترُكُني
مِن باكِرٍ بِدَعاوي الحُبِّ رَوّاحِ
You leave me alone with anxious thoughts, and leave me
Caprice refrains from inciting me, but leaves me
among those who come morning and evening, professing love."
Prey at dawn to the madness love ordains.
Sol 6.1