وَأَزْهَرَ كالعَيُّوقِ يَسعَى بِزهْرَاءِ

لَنَا مِنْهُما دَاءٌ وَبرْءٌ مِنَ الدَّاءِ

A radiant one, like the star al-ʿAyyūq, goes about with a radiant draught;

From the two of them come our sickness—and our recovery from sickness.

أَلا بِأَبي صُدْغٌ حَكَى العَينَ عِطفُهُ

وشَارِبُ مِسْكٍ قَدْ حَكى عَطفَةَ الرَّاءِ

Ah, may my father ransom a temple-lock whose curve recalls the letter ʿayn,

and a musk-dark moustache that recalls the sweep of the letter rāʾ.

فَما السِّحْرُ ما يُعزَى إلى الأَرْضِ بَابِلٍ

وَلكنْ فُتُورُ اللَّحْظِ مِنْ طَرْفِ حوْرَاءِ

Magic is not what is attributed to the land of Babylon;

it is the languor of a glance from the eye of a dark-eyed beauty.

وَكَفٌّ أَدارَتْ مُذْهَبَ اللَّون أَصْفراً

بِمُذْهَبَةٍ في رَاحَةِ الكفِّ صَفْراءِ

And a hand passed around a yellow draught, gold-bright in hue,

in a gilded vessel—yellow in the palm of the hand.