لو ذُقْتَ حين عَتَبتَ أَيْسرَ حُبِّه

لَعلِمتَ حُلْوَ غرامِه من صابِه

Had you tasted when you blamed the easiest of his love,

You would have known the sweetness of his passion from the one who quenched it.

ومن البليةِ أنْ يلومَ أخا الهوى

مَن ليس يعلمُ سهلَه من صَعْبِه

And it is a disaster that the lover should blame his brother in love,

One who does not know its plains from its rough terrain.

ما أنت منه إذا تَطاولَ ليلُه

قَلَقا ولَجَّتْ مُقْلَتاه بِشُهْبِه

You are not like him when his night grew long,

Restless, and his eyelids were laden with their hoarfrost.

وثمِلت من كأس الهوى ويدُ الهوى

تسقى جوارحَه بميَسم كَرْبِه

And I became drunk from the cup of love while the hand of love

Quenched its limbs with the pure wine of his anguish.

أنا بعضُ من سَبَتِ اللِّحاظُ فؤادَه

فسَرَى ولم يَحْفِل بلأمِة حَرْبه

I am some of those whose innermost beings were captivated by the cheek's radiance,

So it walked away heedless of the blame of its war.

يا ساكني مصرٍ أمَا من رحمةٍ

لمتيَّمٍ ذهبَ الغرامُ بلُبِّه

O dwellers of Egypt, is there no mercy

For an afflicted one whose love has claimed his heart?

أمِن المروءةِ أن يزورَ بلادكم

مثلى ويرجعَ مُعْدِما من قلبه

Is it manly to visit your lands,

Like me, and return with his heart ruined?

بي منكمُ خَنِثُ الجفون يَشوبُها

خَفَرٌ أَقام قيامَة المُتَنبِّه

My eyelids, delicate like a young girl's, are clouded

By sorrow that roused the one taking a nap.

ماء يموجُ به النعيم لطافةً

لولا غِلالتُه لفُزْتُ بشُرْبه

Water whose waves pleasure makes delicate—

Had it not been for its turbidity, I would have won drinking it—

يبدو فتستحلى العيونُ مَذاقَه

نَظَرا وتحترق القلوب بحبه

Appears, so eyes find savor in looking at it,

And hearts are seared with love of it.

صَلِف تَوقَّفت المطامعُ دونَه

فالشمسُ أيسرُ مَطْلَبا من قُربْه

Austere, hopes stopped short of reaching it,

For the sun is easier to obtain than nearness to it.

مَنْ راحِمٌ من عاصِمٌ من حاكِم

فيه فيُنصِفَ ذِلَّتي من عُجْبه

Who will show mercy, or protect me, or rule

Over it and do justice for my marvel at its pride?

ولقد عزمتُ على السلوِّ مصمِّما

فإذا الجوانحُ كلها من حِزْبِه

I had resolved to be compliant, determined,

But then my wings were all of its party.

وإذا هَواهُ أحاط بي فكأنني

فيه على التحريرِ نُقْطةُ قُطبِه

And when it loved me, it was as if I was,

In it, the point of its axis' stillness.