يا صاحِبَيَّ أَعيناني عَلى طَرَبِ
قَد آبَ لَيلي وَلَيتَ اللَيلَ لَم يَؤُبِ
O my friend, help me with my turmoil,
My night has come and would that night had not returned.
نَصِبتُ وَالشَوقُ عَنّاني وَنَصَّبَني
إِلى سُلَيمى وَراعيهِنَّ في نَصَبِ
Yearning holds my reins and has harnessed me,
To Sulayma and her fair companions in harnessing.
في القَصرِ ذي الشُرُفاتِ البيضِ جارِيَةٌ
رَيّا التَرائِبِ وَالأَردافِ وَالقَضَبِ
In the palace of proud porches a maid,
Slender of waist and hips and thighs.
اللَهُ أَصفى لَها وُدّي وَصَوَّرَها
فَضلاً عَلى الشَمسِ إِذ لاحَت مِنَ الحُجُبِ
God made my love for her most pure and formed her,
Excelling the sun when it shone from behind the veils.
أُحِبُّ فاها وَعَينَيها وَما عَهِدَت
إِلَيَّ مِن عَجَبٍ وَيلي مِنَ العَجَبِ
I love her mouth and her eyes and what
Wonders she confided in me - and woe to me from wonders!
داءُ المُحِبِّ وَلَو يُشفى بِريقَتِها
كانَت لِأَدوائِهِ كَالنارِ لِلحَطَبِ
The lover's sickness, though her spittle would cure it,
Is like fire to kindling for his remedies.
وَناكِثٍ بَعدَ عَهدٍ كانَ قَدَّمَهُ
وَكَيفَ يَنكُثُ بَينَ الدينِ وَالحَسَبِ
One who breaks a pact he made earlier -
How can he break between faith and dignity?
وَاللَهِ أَنفَكُّ أَدعوها وَأَطلُبُها
حَتىّ أَموتَ وَقَد أَعذَرتُ في الطَلَبِ
By God, I will call her and seek her
Until I die, having excused myself in seeking.
قَد قُلتُ لَمّا ثَنَت عَنّي بِبَهجَتِها
وَاِعتادَني الشَوقُ بِالوَسواسِ وَالوَصَبِ
I said, when she turned from me with her joy,
And longing accustomed me to whispering and night vigils:
يا أَطيَبَ الناسِ أَرداناً وَمُلتَزَماً
مُنّي عَلَيَّ بِيَومٍ مِنكِ وَاِحتَسِبي
"O sweetest of people to embrace and visit,
Grant me a day with you and count me virtuous."
إِنَّ المُحِبّينَ لا يَشفي سَقامَهُما
إِلّا التَلاقي فَداوي القَلبَ وَاِقتَرِبي
Lovers, their sickness is not cured
Save by meeting - so cure my heart and draw near.
كَم قُلتِ لي عَجَباً ثُمَّ اِلتَوَيتِ بِهِ
وَلا لِما قُلتِ مِن راسٍ وَلا ذَنَبِ
How often you said "wondrous!" to me then blamed me,
Though I had no fault or sin in what you said.
لا تُتعِبيني فَإِنّي مِن حَديثِكُمُ
بَعدَ الصُدودِ الَّذي حُدِّثتُ في تَعَبِ
Don't weary me, for I am weary
After the estrangement - the tale I was told wearies me.
يَدعو إِلى المَوتِ طَيفٌ لا يُؤَرِّقُني
وَعارِضٌ مِنكِ في جَدّي وَفي لَعِبي
A specter that does not disturb me calls me to die,
While a caprice of yours in earnest and in play.
فَاِلقَي مُحِبّاً حَماهُ النَومَ ذِكرُكُمُ
كَأَنَّهُ يَومَ لا يَلقاكِ في لَهَبِ
Meet a lover protected by your memory's sleep,
As though, when he does not meet you, in flames.
قالَت أَكُلُّ فَتاةٍ أَنتَ خادِعُها
بِشِعرِكَ الساحِرِ الخَلّابِ لِلعُرُبِ
She said: "Are you beguiling every young girl
With your sorcerous poetry, refined for nomads?"
كَم قَد نَشِبتَ بِغَيري ثُمَّ زِغتَ بِها
فَاِستَحيِ مِن كَذِبٍ لا خَيرَ في الكَذِبِ
"How often have you become entangled with others, then wavered!
So be ashamed of lying - no good is in lying."
هَبني لَقيتُ كَما تَلقى وَخامَرَني
داءٌ كَدائِكَ مِن جِنٍّ وَمِن كَلَبِ
"I met you and was seized by an illness like yours
Of jinn or dog."
أَنّى لَنا بِكَ أَو أَنّى بِنا لَكُمُ
وَنَحنُ في قَيِّمٍ غَيرانَ في نَشَبِ
"Where do we have you or you us
When we are in different paths, diverse in manners?"
لا نَستَطيعُ وَلا نُسطاعُ مِن سَرَفٍ
فَالصَفحُ أَمثَلُ مِن وَصلٍ عَلى رُقَبِ
"We cannot, nor can we be made to, due to excess -
So forgiveness is best over bonding anew."
أَنتَ المُشَهَّرُ في أَهلي وَفي نَفَري
وَدونَكَ العَينُ مِن جارٍ وَمُغتَرِبِ
"You are notorious among my people and companions.
My eye is too good for a neighbor or stranger from afar."
وَلَو أُطيعُكَ في نَفسي مُعالَجَةً
أَنهَبتُ عِرضي وَما عِرضي بِمُنتَهَبِ
"If I obeyed you, humoring myself,
I would forfeit my honor - and my honor is not for forfeiting."
فَاِحلُب لَبونَكَ إِبساساً وَتَمرِيَةً
لا يَقطَعُ الدَرَّ إِلّا عِيُّ مُحتَلِبِ
"So milk your udder dry and lick your fingers,
None can milk the teat but a bleary-eyed camel herder."
إِنّا وَإِن لَم تَكُن مِنّا مُساعَفَةٌ
بِما هَويتَ وَكُنّا عَنكَ في أَشَبِ
"Though we have shown no favor to you
In what you love, and we avoided you in discomfort,"
نَهوى الحَديثَ وَنَستَبقي مَناصِبَنا
إِنَّ الصَحيحَةَ لا تَبقى مَعَ الجَرِبِ
"We desire speech and preserve our ranks -
The healthy avoids the mangy."
خافَت عُيوناً فَخَفَّت قَبلَ حاجَتِنا
وَرَوَّعَتنا بِإِعراضٍ وَلَم تُصِبِ
"Eyes feared before our need
And startled us by turning away, and did not look."
فَلَيسَ لي عِندَها حَبلٌ أَمُتُّ بِهِ
إِلّا المَوَدَّةَ مِن نُعمى وَلا نَشَبِ
"I have no rope with her I can cling to
Save kindness from bliss - and no knot."
فَقَد نَسيتُ وَقَلبي في صَبابَتِهِ
كَأَنَّهُ عِندَها حَيرانُ في سَبَبِ
"I have forgotten while my heart wanders,
As though lost to causes with her."
قَد غِبتُ عَنها فَما رَقَّت لِغَيبَتِنا
وَقَد شَهِدتُ فَلَم تَشهَد وَلَم تَغِبِ
"I was absent from her but she felt no longing for my absence,
While I was present but she did not witness or be absent."
أُمسي حَزيناً وَتُمسي في مَجاسِدِها
لا تَشتَكي الحُبَّ في عَظمٍ وَلا عَصَبِ
"I go to bed depressed while she goes to bed
Not complaining of love in bone or nerve."
كَأَنَّها حَجَرٌ مِن بُعدِ نائِلِها
شَطَّت عَلَيَّ وَإِن نادَيتُ لَم تُجِبِ
"As if she were a stone, distant from her would-be lover -
She was harsh to me, and if I called, she did not answer."
