ومحسودةٍ لا تحسُدِ الغيدُ مِثلها
لها في عميم الخَلْقِ حُسْنٌ مُنَوَّعُ
An envied beauty—the graceful maidens envy none as they do her;
in creation’s depths, hers is beauty in manifold forms.
إذا انْعَطَفَتْ فالخوطُ بالبدرِ يَنثَني
وإن نظرتْ فالعينُ بالسحرِ تنبعُ
When she sways, a supple bough bearing the full moon bends;
and when she looks, her eye wells forth with magic.
وَلمّا تَلاقَينا تَكَلَّمَ مِقْوَلٌ
بسرِّ الهوى منها ومنِّيَ مدمَعُ
And when we met, there spoke, necklace-adorned,
of love’s secret, a tearful eye from each of us,
بِدُرَّينِ مَسْتُورَيْنِ فَالدرُّ مِنهُما
يُرَى جارِياً بِالشوقِ وَاللفظُ يسمَعُ
bearing two hidden pearls; the pearl from each
was seen flowing with longing, while the utterance was heard.
شَكَوتُ ونطقٌ بيننا فَلِأَيِّنا
ببرح الجوى في سَذْهبِ الحكم يقطَعُ
I complained; then judgment pronounced between us which of us
it would, by its lights, declare more sorely racked by consuming love.
ومالتْ إلى تأنيسناً بعدَ وَحشةٍ
بأجوَفَ لم تُخلَقْ لجنبَيهِ أَضلعُ
Then, after estrangement, she turned to delight us
with a hollow-bodied instrument whose two flanks were fashioned without ribs.
تَمُدُّ إِلى تَنغيمِهِ سُبْطَ أَنمُلٍ
كَأَقلامِ دُرٍّ بالعقيقِ تقمَعُ
She reaches out to make it sing with smooth, slender fingers,
like pens of pearl capped with carnelian.
إذا وَتَرٌ هَزّتْهُ بالنقر خِلْتَهُ
يئنُّ من الآلام أو يَتَضَرّعُ
When her plucking sets a string quivering, you would think it
moans in pain or pleads for mercy.
وينبضُ كالشريان إن عبثتْ به
وَجَسّتْهُ منها باللطافة إصبَعُ
It throbs like an artery when she toys with it,
and a finger of hers probes it delicately.
عواملُ سحرٍ في عواملِ أنملٍ
بها يُخْفَضُ القلبُ الطروبُ ويُرفَعُ
Worlds of magic within worlds of fingertips—
through them the rapt heart is made to sink and soar.
Sol 5.6