دَعاهُ على سَهل الغَرام وَصَعبهِ

فماذا عليكم إِن أَضَرَّ بِقَلبِهِ

He called him to the easy and difficult terrains of passion

So what blame lies on him if it harmed his heart?

أَقِلّا عليه في المَلام فإنَّه

يَرى الموتَ أَصفى من كدورة خَطبِهِ

Reproach him little for the blame, for he

Sees death purer than the misfortune of his love

وَلَيسَ بمُجدٍ يا خَليليَّ لومُه

فإنَّ الهوى قد سيطَ منه بلُبِّهِ

It is no glory, my friend, to blame him

Since passion has seized him by the heart

وَلَو ذُقتُما ما ذاقَ من لاعج الهوى

لأَيقنتُما أَنَّ العذابَ بعَذبِهِ

If you both tasted what he tasted of love's torment

You would know that the sweetness itself is agonizing

يَبيتُ على جَمر الغَرام وَيَنطوي

وَتصبيه ذكرى غورِ سَلعٍ ومَن بهِ

He spends the night on passion's embers and wraps

Himself while the memory of Sala's ruins and its people haunt him

يحنُّ إلى أَوطانِه ثمّ يَنثَني

على قَلبه كي لا يَذوبَ بكَربهِ

He yearns for his homelands then folds

Upon his heart so it would not melt in anguish

وإِن لاحَ من نَجدٍ وميضٌ توقَّدت

بأَحشائه نارُ الغَرام وجَنبهِ

And if a glimpse sparked from Nejd its fire ignited

In his entrails the flames of passion and its fervor

وَلَيسَ له عن منهج الحبِّ منهجٌ

وَكَيفَ وَمهما أومضَ البَرقُ يُصبِهِ

He has no path but the course of love

And how could he when lightning flashes to pour upon him