يا هِلالاً يا قَضيباً يا رَشا

إنْ تبَدّى أو تثنّى أو مشَى

O crescent moon, O slender bow, O shower of rain

Whether you appear, bend, or walk

يا غَزالاً وِرْدُهُ في أدمُعي

كلّما شاءَ ومرْعاهُ الحَشا

O gazelle whose bloom is in my tears

Whenever it wills and its pasture is the enclosure

قد فَشا فيكَ هُيامي في الوَرى

وهْوَ لوْلا دمْعُ عَيْني ما فَشا

My passion for you has spread among people

And if not for my weeping eyes it would not have spread

ولَكَمْ آثرْتُ كِتْمانَ الهَوى

غيْرَ أنّ الدّمْعَ بالسِّرِّ وشَى

And how much I preferred to conceal my love

Except the tears betrayed the secret

كيفَ بالكِتْمانِ يوْماً لامرئٍ

سرّهُ في خدّهِ قدْ نُقِشا

How can one conceal when for a person

His secret is engraved on his cheek

أو بسُلْوانٍ لمَنْ في رِيّةٍ

جِسْمُهُ والقلْبُ في وادِي الأشا

Or console someone whose body and heart

Are in the valley of misery

خُذْ فؤدي لكَ منّي هِبَةً

حُرّةً وافْعَلْ بقَلْبي ما تَشا

Take me as a gift freely offered to you

A free woman, and do with my heart as you please

بعْتُ فيكَ النّومَ بالسُهْدِ فلا

فَرْقَ عنْدي بيْنَ صُبْحٍ وعِشا

I sold sleep for wakefulness, so for me

There is no distinction between dawn and evening

كمْ لَيالٍ بتُّ في ظَلْمائِها

أمْتَطي منْ نارِ شوْقِي فُرُشا

How many nights I spent in their darkness

Riding the steed of my passion on the mattress

كلّما صِحْتُ بها وا كَبِدي

مادَتِ الأرضُ لِما بي دَهَشا

Whenever I awakened woe to my liver

The earth swayed from what afflicted me

وكأنّ النّجْمَ شرْبٌ ثمِلٌ

واصلَ الثّمْلَةَ حتّى ارتَعشا

As if the stars were an intoxicated drink

That reached the point of tipsiness

وكأنّ الصُبْحَ في الليلِ وقدْ

ملأَ الأرْجاءَ ممّا جيّشا

And as if the dawn in the night had

Filled the horizons from what it stirred

مُلِئَتْ منْ جوْهَرِ الدّمْعِ يَدي

عجَباً أقْبَلُ في قَلْبي الرّشا

My hands were filled with the essence of tears

Strangely, trinkets came into my heart

وجَرى من ماءِ عيني نهَرٌ

حينَ أرْسَلْتُ دُموعي مُجْهِشا

And from my eyes' water a river flowed

When I let my floods of tears gush

فاعْجَبوا منْ جوْهرٍ لا يُقْتَنى

ولنَهْرٍ ليس يَرْوي عطَشا

So they were amazed at jewels that can't be bought

And a river that doesn't quench thirst

يا نَديمَيّ فؤادي كلّما

نفحَتْ ريحُ النُّعامَى انْتَشا

O companion of my heart whenever

The breeze of ostrich feathers was perfumed

أنِّسا قلبي بتَذْكارِ الحِمى

فالحِمى منْ أهلِهِ قد أوْحَشا

Delight my heart with memories of the tribe

For the tribe whose homesickness distressed them

ضاعَ يومَ البيْنِ قلْبي فابْحَثا

بيْنَ أخْفافِ المَطايا وانْبِشا

The day we parted my heart was lost so search

Among the hooves of the mounts and rummage

وامْزُجاها قهْوَة عِطرِيّةً

كرُمَتْ كرَماً وطابَتْ عُرُشا

And mix it an aromatic coffee

That was generous in its generosity and good in its settlement

فإذا أبْصَرَها ذو قِرّةٍ

ظنّها بالبُعْدِ ناراً فَعَشا

So when one with a cheerful eye sees it

He thinks it a fire in the distance, so he lives

وإذا قبّلَها شارِبُها

قطّبَ الوجْهَ لَها وانْكَمشا

And when its drinker kisses it

He frowns at it and recoils

فسلا السّاقي الذي أترَعَها

حيّةً أوْدَعَها أو حنَشا

So the one who poured it became angry, a serpent

Deposited it or a male hyena

ثائِرٌ راقبَ منْهُ فُرصَةً

ثمّ لمّا أمْكَنَتْهُ بطَشا

A rebel watched for a chance from him

Then when he got it, he pounced and snatched

وتَخالُ الأفْقَ ثغْراً قاصِياً

غلَبَ الرّومُ عليْهِ الحَبَشا

And the horizons seem like a distant smile

The Abyssinians conquered it