سَلُوا سَيْفَ أَلْحاظِهِ الْمُمْتَشَقْ

أَعِنْدَ الْقُلُوبِ دَمٌ لِلْحَدَقْ

Ask the sword that unveiled its edges,

Does blood dwell in hearts for pupils?

أَما مِنْ مُعِينْ وَلا عاذِرٍ

إِذا عَنُفَ الشَّوْقُ يَوْماً رَفَقْ

Is there no helper or excuse

When longing violently shakes one day?

تَجَلى لَنا صارِمُ الْمُقْلَتَيْ

نِ ماضِي الْمُوَشَّحِ وَالمُنْتَطَقْ

The executor of the past and the eloquent

Appeared to us with decisive eyes.

مِنَ التُّرْكِ ما سَهْمُهُ لَوْ رَمى

بِأَقْتَلَ مِنْ لَحْظِهِ إِذْ رَمَقْ

Of the Turks, his arrow, if it shot

Would kill more fatally than his glance when it glanced.

تَعَلَّقْتُهُ وَكَأَنَّ الْجَمالَ

يُضاهِي غَرامِي بِهِ وَالْعَلَقْ

I clung to him as if beauty

Matched my passion for him and my attachment.

وَلَيْلَةَ راقَبْتُهُ زائراً

سَمِيرَ السُّهادِ ضَجِيعَ الْقَلَقْ

And a night I watched him visiting

The intimate of wakefulness, the restless sleeper.

كَأَنِّي لِرِقْبَتِهِ حابِلٌ

دَنَتْ أُمُّ خَشْفٍ لَهُ مِنْ وَهَقْ

As if I had tied his neck with rope

The mother of a tender calf approached him nervously.

دَعَتْنِي الْمَخافَةُ مِنْ فَتْكِهِ

إِلَيْهِ وَكَمْ مُقْدِمٍ مِنْ فَرَقْ

Fear of his violence drove me

To him, and how often the departer turns back!

وَقَدْ راضَتِ الكَأْسُ أخْلاقَهُ

وَوُقِّرَ بِالسُّكْرِ مِنْهُ النَّزَقْ

Wine softened his manners

And drunkenness brought tranquility to him.

وَحُقَّ الْعِناقُ فَقَبَّلْتُهُ

شَهِيَّ الْمُقَبَّلِ وَالْمُعْتَنَقْ

The right of embrace necessitated that I kiss him,

The passionate kisser and the embraced.

وَباتَتْ ثَناياهُ عانِيّةَ ال

مُرَشَّفِ دارِيَّةَ الْمُنْتَشَقْ

And his folds spent the night suffering,

My home's sleepless and torn companions.

وَبِتُّ أُخالِجُ شَكِّي بِهِ

أَزَوْرٌ طَرا أَمْ خَيالٌ طَرَقْ

I pass the night suffering doubt about him:

Was he a visitor who came or a specter who knocked?

أُفَكِّرُ فِي الْهَجْرِ كَيْفَ انْقَضى

وأَعْجَبُ لِلْوَصْلِ كَيْفَ اتَّفَقْ

I think about how separation passed

And wonder how union coincided.

فَللْحُبِّ ما عَزَّ مِنِّي وَهانَ

وَلِلْحُسْنِ ما جَلَّ مِنْهُ وَدَقّْ

For love whatever was difficult for me became easy

And for beauty whatever was majestic in him became refined.

لَقَدْ أَبِقَ الْعُدْمُ مِنْ راحَتَيَّ

لَمّا أَحَسَّ بِنُعْمى أَبَقْ

Indeed, non-existence kept my comfort from lasting

When it sensed the blessing of existence.

تَطاوَحَ يَهْرُبُ مِنْ جُودِهِ

وَمَنْ أَمَّه السَّيْلُ خافَ الْغَرَقْ

It struggles to escape his generosity,

And whoever the torrent inundated fears the flood.