لمّا دَعا دَاعِي الهَوَى لَبّيتُهُ

وحَثَثْتُ رَحْليَ مُسْرِعاً وأتَيْتُهُ

When the caller of passion called me, I responded,

And I hurried my camel and came to him.

وحَجَجْتُ كَعْبَتَهُ فَما مِنْ مَنْسَكٍ

إلاّ أقَمْتُ شِعارَهُ وقَضَيْتُهُ

And I performed pilgrimage to his Kaaba, so there was no ritual

That I did not establish its waymarks and fulfill it.

ولَو انّني أنْصَفْتُ حَجّ بِيَ الهَوى

عَيْنايَ زَمْزَمُهُ وقَلبي بيتُهُ

If I were fair with my passion's pilgrimage,

My eyes would be its Zamzam and my heart its home.

مَنْ مُنْصِفي منْ جِيرَةٍ لمْ يَرْحَموا

دَمْعاً على عَرَصاتِهِمْ أجْرَيْتُهُ

Who is fair to me from neighbors who had no mercy,

And shed tears on their thresholds which I poured?

راعُوا فُؤادي بالصُّدودِ وما رَعَوْا

عَهْداً لهُمْ حافَظْتُهُ ورَعَيْتُهُ

They guarded my heart with repulsions and did not guard

A pact with them which I kept and pastured.

طاوَعْتُ قَلْبي حينَ لجَّ لَجاجُهُ

في حُبِّهِمْ ولَوِ انْتَهى لنَهَيْتُهُ

I made my heart comply when its obstinacy plunged

In loving them, and if it went too far I would restrain it.

مَنْ ذا يُواسي في أسىً حالَفْتُهُ

أمْ مَنْ يُعاني منْ جَوَى عانَيْتُه

Who consoles me in a grief that I swore?

Or who helps me with an affection that I suffered?

مهْما زَجَرْتُ صَبابَتي حرّضْتُها

وإذا كَفَفْتُ تَشَوُّقي أغْرَيْتُهُ

However much I deterred my youthfulness, I provoked it,

And if I limited my longing, I enticed it.

يا مَنْ سُكوتي في هَواهُ تَفَكُّرٌ

فِي شأنِهِ وإذا نَطَقْتُ عَنَيْتُهُ

O you whose silence in his love is contemplation

About his affair, and if I spoke I protected him.

يا مَنْ أُمَوِّهُ بالصِّفاتِ وبالحُلَى

منْ أجلِهِ وأَغارُهُ إنْ سَمّيْتُهُ

O you whom I evade with traits and charms

For his sake, and I am jealous if I named him.

يا رَوْضَةً غَرَسَتْ لِحاظي وَرْدَها

وسَكبْتُ دَمْعيَ دِيمَةً وسَقَيْتُهُ

O a garden that my eyelids planted its roses

And I poured my tears constantly and watered it.

فإذا جَنَيْتُ بناظِري منْ زَهْرِها

كَتَبَ الهَوى ذَنْباً علَيّ جَنَيْتُهُ

So when I reaped with my glances from its flowers

Passion wrote a sin upon me that I reaped.

أدّى إليَّ الطّيْفُ عنْكِ رسالةً

فقرَأْتُها ولَوِ استَطَعْتُ قَرَيْتُهُ

The specter conveyed to me a message from you

So I read it and if I was able I would have recited it.

ما كانَ ضرّكِ لوْ أبَحْتِ مُقامَه

فبَثَثْتَهُ شَكْوايَ أو ناجَيْتُهُ

It would not have harmed you if you disclosed his abode

So you poured out my complaint or confided in him.

قالَتْ فِداكَ أبِي فُؤادُكَ في يَدي

عانٍ ولَوْ أنّي أشاءُ فَدَيْتُهُ

She said, may your heart be ransomed by my father, in my hand

Is helplessness, and if I wished I would ransom it.

طِبُّ المَسيحِ لدَيّ منْهُ مَسْحَةٌ

أيُقِيمُ دَاءٌ كلّما داوَيْتُهُ

The healing of the Messiah is ineffectual to me,

A malady, however much I medicated it.

أهْدِي لمَنْ أبْغي الشِّفاءَ منَ الجَوى

فَيُفيقُ مُضْناهُ ويَحْيَى مَيْتُهُ

I bestow recovery from passion upon whom I love

So he awakes from his affliction and his dead lives.

بيَدي حَياةُ مُتَيَّمي وحِمامُهُ

فلَكمْ تَلافَيْتُ الذي أفْنَيْتُهُ

In my hand is the life of my despairing beloved and his pigeon,

So how many times have I brought back to life him whom I destroyed!

أسَألْتَ يوْماً يُوسُفاً مَوْلَى الوَرى

شِيَمَ النّدى والبأس واستَجْدَيْتهُ

You asked Joseph one day, the master of people,

The traits of dew, power, and sought them.

مَلكٌ إذا بَذَلَ الحُبا قالَ الحَيا

أخْشى الفَضيحَةَ إنْ أنا جارَيْتُهُ

A king, when he bestows love, says: "I fear disgrace

If I indulge him."

أمَرَ العُلى ونَهَي فقالَتْ طاعَةً

ما شاءَ شِئْتُ وما أباهُ أبَيْتُهُ

He commanded and forbade so she said obediently:

"I do what he desires and I refuse what he dislikes."

وسَما انْتِماءً في ذُؤابَةِ خَزْرَجٍ

فزَكَتْ أرُومَتُهُ وقُدِّسَ بَيْتُهُ

And it was affiliated in the clan of Khazraj

So its pillars were sanctified and its home purified.

بَيْتٌ عِمادُ عُلاهُ سَعْدُ عُبادَةٍ

وطِنابُهُ الأنْصارُ نِعْمَ البَيْتُ بَيْتُهُ

A home whose pillars of elevation are Sa'd of worship

And its walls are the Helpers - what an excellent home his home!

موْلايَ قابِلْ بالقَبولِ وبالرِّضى

نَظْماً بدُرِّ ثَناكَ قدْ حَلّيْتُهُ

My master, meet with acceptance and pleasure

A poem with your full moon that I have adorned.

رَقّتْ مَعانِيهِ لدَيّ فلَوْ جَرَى

سَحَراً نَسيمُ الرّوضِ لاسْتَجْفَيْتُهُ

Its meanings were gentle to me so if the morning breeze of the garden

Flowed as sorcery I would absorb it.

وعَلى احتِكامي في القَريضِ وإنّي

يَرْويهِ عنّي الدّهْرُ إنْ رَوّيْتُهُ

And about my compositions in poetry, I am one whose poetry

Time narrates from me if I narrated it.

فلَقَدْ هَمَمْتُ بأن أقومَ بواجِبي

منْ حَقِّ مَدْحِكَ ثمّ ما وَفّيتُهُ

For I have resolved to do my duty

Of praising you then did not complete it.