يا بِنتَ صَقرِ بنِ قَعقاعٍ عَلى كَبِدي

شَوقٌ إِلَيكِ وَفي روحي وَفي جَسَدي

O daughter of Saqr ibn Qa'qa', upon my very heart

lies longing for you—in my spirit and in my body.

كَدَّرتِ شُربَ الغَواني لا صَفَوتِ لَنا

وَقَد صَفا لَكِ وُدّي مَورِداً فَرِدي

You have clouded my draught of lovely women, yet would not run clear for me,

though my love runs clear for you—my one and only spring.

أَمِنتِ مِن شِركِ أُخرى في مَوَدَّتِنا

ما حافَظَت ذاتُ أَحشاءٍ عَلى وَلَدِ

You need fear no other woman's share in our love,

so long as a mother with a womb keeps watch over her child.

اللَهُ يَعلَمُ أَنّي مُنذُ حَدَّثَني

عَنكِ النِساءُ طَويلُ اللَيلِ بِالسُهُدِ

God knows that I, ever since I was told

of you by the women, have spent the long night sleepless.

أَحرَمتُ رَيحانَ بُستانٍ وَناضِرَهُ

حَتّى أَشُمَّكِ يا رَيحانَةَ البَلَدِ

I have denied myself a garden's sweet basil and fresh bloom

until I breathe in your scent, O basil of the town.

ما ساقَني لَكِ مَملوكاً وَعَلَّقَني

إِلاَّ العُيونُ اللَواتي جِئنَ مِن صَدَدِ

What drove me to you, enslaved, and bound me fast

was nothing but those eyes that came in sidelong glances.

جَمَعنَ نَفسي وَقَد كانَت مُفَرَّقَةً

بَينَ النِساءِ وَما أَبقَينَ مِن جَلَدِ

They gathered up my soul when it had been scattered

among women, and left me no endurance.

قالَ النَواصِحُ طُوبى قَد ظَفِرتَ بِها

مَكسورَةَ الطَرفِ بِالتَأنيثِ وَالرَمَدِ

The counsellors said, “Good fortune! You have won her—”

her gaze softened by womanly grace and a languid soreness of the eyes.

جِنِّيَّةُ الحُسنِ مُرتَجٌّ رَوادِفُها

كَأَنَّها مِن جَواري الجَنَّةِ الخُلُدِ

A jinni of beauty, her buttocks trembling,

as though she were one of the maidens of everlasting Paradise.

أَبشِر سَتَلقى غَدا سُعدى بِرُؤيَتِها

وَكُلُّ ما في غَدٍ دانٍ وَبَعدَ غَدٍ

Take heart: tomorrow, through the sight of her, you will meet with bliss;

and all that tomorrow holds is near—and so is the day after tomorrow.