لَيتَ الَّذي خَلَقَ العُيونَ السودا

خَلَقَ القُلوبَ الخافِقاتِ حَديدا

If only He who created the dark eyes

Would that He who fashioned eyes of black,

Had created the throbbing hearts as iron

Had forged the beating hearts of iron,

لَولا نَواعِسُها وَلَولا سِحرُها

ما وَدَّ مالِكُ قَلبِهِ لَو صيدا

Were it not for their glances and magic

Were it not for their languor and their spell,

No lover would have loved, not even an idol

No master of his heart would wish to be snared.

عَوِّذ فُؤادَكَ مِن نِبالِ لِحاظِها

أَو مُت كَما شءَ الغَرامُ شَهيدا

Protect your heart from the arrows of her glances

Shield your heart from the arrows of her glance,

Or die as love decrees you a martyr

Or die, as passion wills, a martyr.

إِن أَنتَ أَبصَرتَ الجَمال وَلَم تَهِم

كُنتَ اِمرَأً خَشِنَ الطِباعِ بَليدا

If you saw beauty and were not tempted

For if you beheld beauty and did not fall,

You would be a man of coarse nature, numb

You would be a man of coarse and dull nature.

وَإِذا طَلَبتَ مَعَ الصَبابَةِ لَذَّةً

فَلَقَد طَلبَتَ الضائِعَ المَوجودا

And if with youth, you sought pleasure

And if you sought pleasure alongside pining,

You would seek the unattainable

You have sought a thing lost, though it exists.

يا وَيحَ قَلبي إِنَّهُ في جانِبي

وَأَظُنُّهُ نائي المَزارِ بَعيدا

Oh my heart, it lies next to me

Woe to my heart! Though it lies within my chest,

And I think it is far from my burial site

I deem it wandering far in distant lands,

مُستَوفِزٌ شَوقاً إِلى طَحبابِهِ

المَرءُ يَكرَهُ أَن يَعيشَ وَحيدا

Inciting longing for her cheeks

Restless with longing for its beloveds,

One dislikes living lonely

For a man hates to live his life alone.

بَرَأَ الإِلَهُ لَهُ الضُلوعَ وِقايَةً

وَأَرَتهُ شِقوَتُهُ الضُلوعَ قُيودا

God exonerated it with ribs for protection

God fashioned the ribs to be its shield,

And its misfortune made the ribs fetters

But misery showed it the ribs are but chains.

فَإِذا هَفا بَرقُ المُنى وَهَفا لَهُ

هاجَت دَفائِنُهُ عَلَيهِ رُعودا

So when the lightning of wishes flashed for him

When the lightning of hope flashes and it flutters,

His passions raged at him like thunder

Buried secrets storm against it like thunder.

جَشَّمتُهُ صَبراً فَلَمّا لَم يَطُق

جَشَّمتُهُ التَصويب وَالتَصعيدا

I adorned it with patience but when it could not endure

I tasked it with patience, but when it could not bear,

I adorned it with aiming and climbing

I tasked it with heavy sighs, rising and falling.

لَو أَستَطيعُ وَقَيتُهُ بَطشَ الهَوى

وَلَوِ اِستَطاعَ سَلا الهَوى مَحمودا

If I could protect it from love’s tyranny

Could I, I would have spared it the assault of love,

And if one could resist love’s tyranny, praiseworthy

And could it, it would have forgot love and been praised.

هِيَ نَظرَةٌ عَرَضَت فَصارَت في الحَشا

نارا وَصارَ لَها الفُؤادُ وَقودا

It was a glance that passed by and turned

It was a glance that passed, then lodged in the gut,

My heart into fire and made it firewood

A fire for which the heart became the fuel.

وَالحُبُّ صَوتٌ فَهوَ أَنَّةُ نائِحٍ

طَورا وَآوِنَةً يَكونُ نَشيدا

And love is a voice, it is the wail of a mourner

Love is a voice: at times the moan of a mourner,

At times, and at others it is a song

And at other moments, it becomes a song.

يَهَبُ البَواغِمَ أَلسُناً صَدّاحَةً

فَإِذا تَجَنّى أَسكَتَ الغِرّيدا

It makes the twittering birds eloquent

It grants the mute beasts singing tongues,

But when it withdraws, it silences the warbler

But when it turns cruel, it silences the nightingale.

ما لي أُكَلِّفُ مُهجَتي كَتمَ الأَسى

إِن طالَ عَهدُ الجُرحِ صارَ صَديدا

Why do I task my love to conceal sorrow?

Why do I force my soul to hide its grief?

If the wound's breach lasts long, it becomes malignant

If the wound is long kept, it turns to festering pus.

وَيَلَذُّ نَفسي أَن تَكونَ شَقِيَّةً

وَيَلَذُّ قَلبي أَن يَكونَ عَميدا

And my soul delights in being wretched

My soul finds pleasure in being wretched,

And my heart delights in being steadfast

And my heart finds delight in being enthralled.

إِن كُنتَ تَدري ما الغَرامُ فَداوِني

أَو لا فَخَلِّ العَذل وَالتَفنيدا

If you know what love is, then cure me

If you know what passion is, then cure me,

Or else refrain from rebuke and denial

If not, then cease your blame and refutation.

يا هِندُ قَد أَفنى المَطالُ تَصَبُّري

وَفَنَيتُ حَتّى ما أَخافُ مَزيدا

O Hind, hopes have exhausted my patience

O Hind, delay has exhausted my patience,

And I am exhausted, fearing no further calamity

And I have withered until I fear no further pain.

ما هَذِهِ البيضُ الَّتي أَبصَرتُها

في لِمَّتي إِلّا اللَيالي السودا

What is this whiteness that I see

What is this whiteness I have seen,

In my beard, but the dark nights?

Upon my temples, but the darkness of nights?

ما شِبتُ مِن كِبَر وَلَكِنَّ الَّذي

حَمَّلتِ نَفسي حَمَّلتُهُ الفودا

I have not grown old with age

I did not turn gray from age, but that with which

But that which I burdened myself with has bent my back

You burdened my soul, I have burdened my temples.

هَذا الَّذي أَبلى الشَباب وَرَدَّهُ

خَلقا وَجَعَّدَ جَبهَتي تَجعيدا

This is what has worn out my youth and dispelled it

This is what wore out youth and returned it

In creation, and furrowed my brow in folds

In tatters, and carved deep wrinkles on my brow.

عَلَّمتِ عَيني أَن تَسُحَّ دُموعُها

بِالبُخلِ عَلَّمتِ البَخيلَ الجودا

You taught my eyes to wipe their tears stingily

You taught my eye to pour forth its tears;

You taught the stingy man generosity!

Through stinginess, you taught the miser generosity.

وَمَنَعتِ قَلبي أَن يَقَرَّ قَرارَهُ

وَلَقَد يَكونُ عَلى الخُطوبِ جَليدا

And you prevented my heart from settling

You forbade my heart to rest in its place,

And it can be cold to calamities

Though it was once steadfast against calamity.

دَلَّهَتني وَحَمَيتِ جَفني غَمضَهُ

لا يُستَطاعُ مَعَ الهُمومِ هُجودا

You seduced me, and protected my eyelid from closing

You drove me mad and denied my eyelid sleep;

With sorrows, prostration cannot be endured

Slumber is impossible amidst such cares.

لا تَعجَبي أَنَّ الكَواكِبَ سُهَّدٌ

فَأَنا الَّذي عَلَّمتُها التَسهيدا

Do not wonder that the planets are compliant to me

Do not marvel that the stars are sleepless,

I am the one who taught them compliance

For I am the one who taught them how to wake.

أَسمَعتُها وَصفَ الصَبابَةِ فَاِنثَنَت

وَكَأَنَّما وَطِئَ الحُفاةُ صُرودا

I heard her describe the charms of youth

I told them the tale of passion, and they recoiled,

And it curled up as if the barefoot had stepped on thorns

As if the barefoot trod upon frozen heights,

مُتَعَثِّراتٍ بِالظَلامِ كَأَنَّما

حالَ الظَلامُ أَساوِدا وَأُسودا

Stumbling in the darkness as if

Stumbling through the darkness, as if

The darkness had turned ashen and black

The dark had turned to vipers and to lions.

وَأَنَّها عَرِفَت مَكانَكَ في الثَرى

صارَت زَواهِرُها عَلَيكِ عُقودا

And that she knew your place in the earth

And because they knew your place upon the earth,

So its flowers have garlanded you

Their shining lights became necklaces for you.

أَنتِ الَّتي تُنسي الحَوائِجَ أَهلَها

وَأَخا البَيانِ بَيانَهُ المَعهودا

You who make people forget their worries

You are the one who makes men forget their needs,

And the most eloquent orator his usual eloquence

And makes the orator forget his eloquence.

ما شِمتُ حُسنَكَ قَطُّ إِلّا راعَني

فَوَدِدتُ لَو رُزِقَ الجَمالُ خُلودا

I have never sensed your beauty but it shook me

I never glimpsed your beauty but it awed me,

And I wished beauty was granted eternity

And I wished that beauty were granted immortality.

وَإِذا ذَكَرتُكِ هَزَّ ذِكرَكِ أَضلُعي

شَوقاً كَما هَزَّ النَسيمُ بُنودا

And when I mention you, the mention of you shakes my ribs

When I remember you, your memory shakes my ribs

With longing as the breeze shook the wet clothes

With longing, as the breeze shakes the banners.

فَحَسِبتُ سِقطَ الطَلِّ ذَوبَ مَحاجِري

لَو كانَ دَمعُ العاشِقينَ نَضيدا

I reckoned the melted pearls were my tears

I thought the falling dew was my melting eyes,

If only the tears of lovers were molten lead

If only lovers' tears were strung like pearls.

وَظَنَنتُ خافِقَةَ الغُصونِ أَضالِعاً

وَثِمارَهُنَّ القانِياتِ كُبودا

And I fancied the fluttering of the boughs were ribs

And I imagined the fluttering branches were ribs,

And their ripe fruit, cherries

And their deep red fruits were bleeding hearts.

وَأَرى خَيالَكَ كُلَّ تَرفَةِ ناظِرٍ

وَمِنَ العَجائِبِ أَن أَراهُ جَديدا

And I see your image with every glance of the eye

I see your phantom in every blink of the eye,

And it amazes me that I see it renewed

And marvel that I see it ever new.

وَإِذا سَمِعتُ حِكايَةً عَن عاشِقٍ

عَرَضاً حَسِبتُني الفَتى المَقصودا

And when I hear a tale of a lover

And if I hear a tale about a lover,

I fancy myself as the intended man

By chance, I deem myself the youth intended.

مُستَيقِظ وَيَظُنُّ أَنّي نائِمٌ

يا هِندُ قَد صارَ الذُهولُ جُمودا

Awake and fancying that I am asleep

Awake, yet one would think that I am sleeping;

O Hind, bewilderment has become inertia

O Hind, my stupor has turned to stone-stillness.

وَلَقَد يَكونُ لِيَ السُلُوُّ عَنِ الهَوى

لَكِنَّما خُلِقَ المُحِبُّ وَدودا

And keeping aloof from love can be for me

Perhaps I could find solace from this love,

But the lover was created affectionate

But the lover was created to be fond.