أَصَفراءُ ما أَنسى هَواكِ وَلا وُدّي

وَلا ما مَضى بَيني وَبَينَكِ مِن وُكدِ

O Asfaraa, how I miss your love and affection,

And what has passed between us of hardship,

أَبى اللَهُ إِلّا أَن يُفَرِّقَ بَينَنا

وَكُنّا كَماءِ المُزنِ بِالعَسَلِ الشَهدِ

God willed that He separate us,

Though we were like sweetened rosewater,

فَيا غادِياً يَختالُ في العِطرِ وَالحُلى

وَيا واقِفاً يَبكي مُقيماً عَلى فَقدِ

So walk on, swaying in fragrance and beauty,

And stop, weeping, staying after loss,

أَصَفراءُ ما صَبري وَأَنتِ غَريبَةٌ

كَأَنَّكِ عِندَ اِبنِ السَميذَعِ في لَحدِ

O Asfaraa, how patient I’ve been when you’re far,

As if you’re in the grave of Ibn al-Samidha,

إِذا هَتَفَ القُمرِيُّ راجَعَني الهَوى

بِشَوقٍ وَلَم أَملُك دُموعي مِنَ الوَجدِ

When the moon crescent calls, passion returns to me,

With yearning, and I cannot hold back my tears of ecstasy,

أَصَفراءُ لا تَبعَد نَواكِ فَإِنَّما

يَسوقُ لَكِ المَرأى حَبيبُكِ مِن بُعدِ

O Asfaraa, do not distance your companionship, for

Your lover guides what is seen from afar to you,

نَظَرتُ بِحَوضى هَل أَراكِ فَلَم أُصِب

بَعَيني سِوى الجَرعاءِ وَالأَبلَقِ الفَردِ

I looked in my basin, hoping to see you, but my eyes

Met with nothing but a solitary crane and a lone duck,

فَيا حَزَنا في الصَدرِ مِنكِ حَرارَةٌ

وَفي النَفسِ حاجاتٌ تَشوقُ وَلا تُجدي

So, oh sorrow in my heart, from you there is warmth,

And in my soul, desires that yearn but are unfulfilled,

وَقالَ اِبنُ مَنظورٍ أَصَبتَ فَلا تَكُن

أَحاديثَ نَمّامٍ تُنيرُ وَلا تُسدي

And Ibn Manzour said: you attained, so do not be

Like the tales of a gossip that illuminate nor profit,

لَعَلَّكَ تُسلى أَو تُساعِفُكَ النَوى

وَلَم تَلقَ ما لاقى اِبنُ عِجلانَ مِن هِندِ

Perhaps you'll be consoled, or good fortune will double,

And you did not meet what Ibn ‘Ijlan met in India,

يُخَوِّفُني مَوتَ المُحِبّينَ صاحِبي

فَطوبى لَهُم سيقوا إِلى جَنَّةِ الخُلدِ

The death of lovers frightens me, O friend,

Congratulations to them, they were led to eternal paradise,

وَما لَقِيَ النَهدِيُّ إِلّا سَعادَةً

بِمَصرَعِهِ صَلّى الإِلَهُ عَلى النَهدي

Al-Nahdi only met good fortune,

With his death – may God pray upon Al-Nahdi,

أَصَفراءُ لَولا ما أُؤَمِّلُ مِن غَدٍ

ضَرَبتُ بِسَيفي رَأسَ قَيِّمِكِ العَبدي

O Asfaraa, were it not for my hopes for tomorrow,

I would have struck your servant guardian's head with my sword,

أَصَفراءُ لَو أَرسَلتِ في الريحِ حاجَةً

سَكَنتُ إِلَيها أَو حَرِجتُ مِنَ الجَهدِ

O Asfaraa, if you sent a message on the wind,

I would have been satisfied, or exhausted from effort,

أَما تَذكُرينَ الراحَ وَالعودَ وَالنَدى

وَمَجلِسَنا بَينَ الأُزَيهِرِ وَالصَمدِ

Do you not remember the meadow, the wood and the dew,

And our gathering between al-Uzayhir and al-Samad?

كَأَنّي إِذا ما كُنتُ فيهِ وَلا أَرى

سِوى وَصَفاتِ الدَهرِ أَيّامَها عِندي

It is as if when I am in it, and do not see,

Anything but the attributes of fate and its days with me,

تَذَكَّرتُ يَوماً بِالجُرَيدِ وَلَيلَةً

بِذاتِ الغَضا طابَت وَأُخرى عَلى العِدِّ

I remembered a day at al-Jurayd and a night,

At Dhat al-Ghadha - it was pleasant, and another counting them,

لَيالِيَ نَدنو في الجِوارِ وَنَلتَقي

عَلى زاهِرٍ يَلقى الغَزالَةَ بِالسَجدِ

Nights we approached each other and met,

At a blooming tree, where the gazelle prostrates in worship,

فَعاوَدَني دائي القَديمُ بِحُبِّهِ

وَفَرَّ إِلى صَفراءَ قَلبي مِنَ البُردِ

So my old love returned to me with its passion,

And fled to the yellowness of my heart from the cold,

لَقَد كانَ ما بَيني زَماناً وَبَينَها

كَما كانَ بَينَ المِسكِ وَالعَنبَرِ الوَردِ

What was between me and her was once,

Like what was between musk and roses and flowers,