لحظ يسبيك مقلده
ام سيف شاقك مغمده
A glance that captivates you, imitating it
Or a sheathed sword, its hilt shaking
وقوام زاه معتدل
يهتز به ام املده
With a moderate, slim build
Swaying with it or extending
رشأ لهلال نسبته
يجلو بالشعر تجعده
A crescent moon in its lineage
Its hair frizzes and becomes curly
زوجي الشعر غزال خطا
تركي اللحظ منهده
My husband's hair is a gazelle walking
My glance following him longingly
فرد يتثنى عامله
ماض في الحال مجرده
A lone branch bending
Free in the present, detached in the past
اياك واسمر قامته
واحذر يرنو لك اسوده
Beware of his dark stature
And be cautious, he looks at you frowning
ذو فرع ساد كتون دجا
يتجلى جل مسوده
One whose outstanding branch prevails
His darkened entirety manifests itself
عن فيه صحاح الدر روت
ما صح عنه مبرده
The freshness of pearls flows from his mouth
Nothing distorted comes from him
يمشي فيريك له كفلا
منه يتألم مقعده
You see him with shoulders
That hurt his sitting from their width
ويكاد اذا ما رام على
عجل ليقوم فيقعده
And if he tries to stand up hastily
You see him sit back down
واذا ما شد مناطقه
فيريك اللين تشدده
And if he tightens his belt
You see its softness become hard
قاس بالوصل به ملل
بدنيه الصب فيبعده
Harshly estranged, bored with intimacy
Passion drives him away
امن الانصاف ابيت به
سهران الليل ويرقده
Is it fair that I spend the night awake with him
Yet he sleeps through the night?
فالقلب يذوب عليه اسى
والصبر عصاه تجلده
My heart melts with agony over him
Yet patience is his armor against me
لو اشكي ما بي منه إلى
صخر لتفتت جلمده
If I complain to a boulder about what I suffer from him
Its frozenness would melt
او هام به جبل لهوى
مما بالهجر يهدده
Or if I vent to a mountain about his threat of abandonment
It would collapse in yearning for him
بابي افديه غزال خبا
يا للغزلان تشرده
My father, I would sacrifice myself for an aloof gazelle
Oh, how gazelles wander
عجبا في الحسن له رشأ
غنج والاسد تصيده
Wondrous is his crescent-shaped charm
As gracious as a gazelle hunted by a lion
وعجيب كيف بصول رشا
بل اعجب منه تاسده
And strange is how his crescent pounced
But stranger still is how it became a lion
هو بدر الحي وغصن نقا
وغزال السرب وأغيده
He is the full moon of life, a straight branch
The gazelle of the herd and their chief
فعلام عليه يعنفني
من عني راح يفنده
Why then does he rebuke me
When he is the one who turned away from me?
تبّا لعذول فيه طغى
بالعذل وزاد تمرده
Shame on the aloofness that made him tyrannical
With aloofness, increasing his rebellion
ايظن بان اخشاه ولي
في الافق شهاب يرصده
Does he think I fear him? My guardian
Is a comet I watch in the horizon
مولى لعلاه البدر غدا
في التم يغار ويحسده
My master’s brilliance will be the full moon tomorrow
Jealous and envious of its darkness
كهف تسعى الشعراء له
زمرا كالنمل وتقصده
Poets flock to him like ants to a cave
A group seeking him, aiming for him
فحديث نداه يداه غدت
لعطا ترويه وتسنده
The tales of his benevolence have become
Generosity that narrates and supports him
هو بحرٌ الا ان حلا
وصفا للشارب مورده
He is an ocean except that his sweetness
Is a description for one who drinks from its springs
انا مغترف من نائله
انا معترف لا اجحده
I am one who draws from its waves
I admit, I do not deny it
فاليك قواف مذ نظمت
رقص الياقوت منضده
So to you are poems since I composed
The dancing of rubies inlaid
لك من اوصا في احسنها
ولها من جودك اجوده
You have from me the most beautiful praises
And they have from your generosity greater generosity
لا زال سرورك مكتملا
وصفا من عيشك ارغده
May your happiness remain complete
And increase from your most plentiful life
ما صاح هزار ربا طربا
وحلا في الروض تغرده
One who does not cease to chirp in joy and pleasure
And melody in the meadow singing
