للمعة برق بابتسامة ثغره

هديت لنظم الشعر في ليل شعره

With a flash of lightning and a smile on his lips

He gifted the art of poetry on a night of poetry

وشوش بالي منه صدغ مشوش

فجدت بحسن النظم في عقد بحره

His cheek distracted me, confused

So I found in the beauty of his verse the pearls of his sea

وحساده عابوه إذ مر ضاحكا

فقلت اصطكاك الدر في وسط ثغره

And his enviers blamed him as he passed by laughing

So I said it's the friction of pearls in the midst of his lips

ونافحني الداري يوما وما درى

بأني لفظت المسك ساعة ذكره

And the guard rebuked me one day, not knowing

That I had diffused musk at the time of his mention

ورب خيال زارني منه موهنا

فنبه أهل الحي عباق نشره

And how many apparitions visited me from him seducing

Waking the people of the neighborhood with his fragrance

علوقا بأطرافي شذاه ومطرفي

فها أنا بعد النوم ناشق عطره

Clinging to me were his branches and twigs

And the guards of that neighborhood shouted "The aroma! The aroma!"

وحراس ذاك الحي صاحو الشذا الشذا

فقلت خيال زار من بعد هجره

So I said an apparition visited after his abandonment

And they said "The wounded loved one is hurt by the aroma"

وقالوا جريح القوم ضائره الشذا

فقلت ثقوا من كسر قلبي يجبره

So I said "Trust the one who broke my heart will heal it"

And after three days a merchant came to the neighborhood

وبعد ثلاث عاج بالحي تاجر

يقول سحيق المسك هاتوه نشره

Saying "That intense musk, bring it out and diffuse it!"

So they said "Did an apparition come spreading

فقالوا خيال قال هل جاء ناشراً

قميص ابن يعقوب ففاح بنشره

The shirt of Joseph, so it smelled with its diffusion?"

And she is not like a female ostrich, whenever he passes by

وما أم خشف كلما مر سانحا

ينص إليها جيده عند ذعره

He turns his neck toward her in her confusion

She sings when she listens to him pleasing her

أغن إذا أصغت إليه يروقها

فتغلي بروقيها تلابيب صدره

Her necklace boiling with the folds of his chest

She plays with him sometimes fearing his capture

تزجيه حينا إذ تخاف اقتناصه

وتنفر أحيانا لادمان نفره

And sometimes is annoyed by his constant aloofness

She walks with him in the garden for a while and another time

تسيم به بالروض طوراً ومرة

تقيل لدى أيك المراح وسدره

She stays heavy next to the shelters and the lotus trees

You see him procumbent on the ground in the dust

تراه دوين الورد بالعفر رابضا

فلم تأل بالشدقين في نقض عقره

Never satiated by the cheeks in his killing

He loves me more intensely than his gentle apparition

أشد هوى مني لطيف خياله

وأكثر شوقي إن نعمت بنزره

And I long for him even more if I'm blessed by his visit

Take me by the hand, oh companions of the night of agony

خذوا بيدي يا نائمي الليل للكرى

لعل خيالا طار يأوي لو كره

Perhaps an apparition will come rest even if unwillingly

To distance what is between the sleeper and my eyes

لباعد ما بين الرقاد وناظري

وما بين قلبي المستهام وصبره

And what is between my passionate heart and its patience

Sleep has left me, taking back its apparition

مضى النوم مني يسترد خياله

أسيرا ففات النوم مني بأسره

A prisoner, so sleep has escaped me entirely

And how can slumber return to me, consumed with agony

وكيف يرد الجفن مني على كرى

وحافل دمعي يستهل بقطره

My brimming tears flowing with their drops

I have appointed the white nights to be with me, for I

يد لليالي البيض عندي فإنني

تعللت ليل البدر عنهم ببدره

Have blamed the moonlit night for them and its full moon

And how many hands I have for the night of his apparition

وكم من يد عندي لليل خياله

علينا الدجى أرخى ضوافي ستره

The darkness lowered its shelters' curtains upon us

Tell about me the apparition that traveled by night

ألا خبروا عني الخيال الذي سرى

يزر موهنا من قبل مطلع فجره

Visiting, seducing before the rise of its dawn

For the love of the phantom's manners from the creation of passion

فحب طروق الطيف من خلق الهوى

وشأن سواد الليل كتمان سره

Is the way of the black night to conceal its secret