أَذابِلُ النرجِسِ في مُقلَتَيكْ

أَم ناضِرُ الوَردِ عَلى وَجنَتَيكْ

Is that the languishing narcissus in your eyes,

Or the rose in bloom upon your cheeks?

لا تُنكري أنَّكِ حوريَّةٌ

فَنفَحَةُ الجنَّةِ نَمَّتْ عليك

Do not deny that you are a houri:

a breath of Paradise has given you away.

وَعَقربا صدغيكِ من عَنبَرٍ

سَمُّهُما ويلاهُ مِن عَقرَبيك

And the two scorpions of your temples, made of amber—

their venom, alas, comes from your twin scorpions.

وَرِدفُكِ المرتجُّ في غُصنِهِ

مَيّاسٌ اهتَزَّ بِرمّانَتَيك

Your trembling haunch upon its bough

sways, shaken by your two pomegranates.

وَيحَ وِشاحَيكِ فَما أَصبَحا

صِفْرَيْنِ إِلّا حَسدَا دُمْلجيك

Alas for your two sashes—how they have become

empty, only because they envied your armlets.

أَفي نِطاقَيكِ تثَنَّيْتِ أمْ

دَفَعتِ خصرَيكِ إِلى خاتَميك

Did you bend within your two girdles, or

drive your waist into your two rings?

بِاللَّه من صيَّرَ مِن ناظريك

سَهمَيكِ أَم رُمحَيكِ أَم صَارِمَيك

By God, who fashioned from your gaze

your two arrows—or your two spears, or your two swords?

فَحَيثُما كُنتِ خشيتُ الرّدى

مِنكِ أَكُلُّ القتلِ في ناظِرَيك

Wherever you may be, I fear destruction

from you: is every form of killing in your eyes?

لو شئتِ حييتِ نَشاوَى الهوى

من لون خدّيك بتفاحتيك

If you wished, you could greet those drunk on love

with two apples in the color of your cheeks.

وإن تَغَنّيتِ لنا لم نزَلْ

نخلعُ أفواهاً على أخمَصَيك

And if you sang to us, we would never cease

casting our mouths down upon the soles of your feet.

لا صَبرَ لي عَنكِ وَإِن كانَ لي

عَلى جِناياتك صَبرٌ عَلَيك

I have no patience for being parted from you, though I have

patience with you for all your offenses.