Claude 2

  1. عَشِقْتُ ومن هذا الذي ليس يَعْشَقُ

    ولِمْ لا وقد هام الحَمَامُ المُطَوَّقُ

    I fell in love, and who is there that does not fall in love?

    Why not, when the ring-doves are smitten with passion?

  2. وإِن كنتُ عُلِّقْتُ الحبيبَ فإِنَّه

    بقَلْبيَ من كل البريَّة أَعْلقُ

    And if I am hooked on my beloved, surely he

    In my heart has hooked all of nature about him.

  3. أَموتُ غراماً حين أَحْرَمُ وصل مَنْ

    هوِيتُ وأَحيا فرْحَةً حين أُرْزقُ

    I die of love when the tryst of union is denied me,

    And live exultant when that union is allowed.

  4. وإِنَّ الفتى يَحْيَا بما قد يُمِيتُهُ

    فبالماءِ يَحْيَا وهُوَ بالماءِ يَغْرَقُ

    The youth is kept alive by the very thing that kills himSo with water he lives, and with water he drowns.

    And I beg you, do not deny the throbbing of his heart,

  5. وإِياكُمُ لا تُنْكِروا خفق قلْبِهِ

    فقلبُ الذي يَسْعَى ويُخْفِقُ يَخْفِقُ

    For the heart that strives and throbs is a throbbing heart.

    The meaning is not that the lover is really fettered,

  6. وليسَ المُعنَّى بالحبيب بواثقٍ

    وإنَّ المُعنَّى بالحبيب لمُوثقُ

    But that the lover of the meaning is fettered fast.

    He gave guidance with his cheeks and went astray with his hair,

  7. هدى بثنايَاهُ وضَلَّ بِشَعْرِهِ

    فكادَ بِقَوْلِ المانَوِيَّةِ يَصْدُقُ

    So that he almost made good the saying of al-Manawi.

    The full moon is mine, O Dayyachi, and yours but waning,

  8. أَبَدْرَ الدَّياجي إِنَّ بَدْرِيَ زَائِدٌ

    وأَنتَ على الأَيَّام تُمْحَى وتُمْحَقُ

    While you over the days will fade and disappear.

    The hair curled over his temple, so my heart hovered there, curling,

  9. تحلَّقَ شَعْرُ الصُّدْغِ من فوقِ خدِّه

    فأًقْبَلَ قَلْبي نحوه يَتَحلَّقُ

    And had it not been for his cheek, its ember would have burned his temple,

    And dew and hoverer on the fire spent the night;

  10. فلولا نداهُ أَحْرَقَ الصدغَ جَمْرُهُ

    فباتَ على النَّار النَّدَى والمحلَّقُ

    And there was a scratch along the line of his cheek as if

    Writing attached to a line of script.

  11. وخَدْشٌ على خَطِّ العِذَارِ كأَنَّهُ

    كلامٌ على سَطْرٍ من الخط مُلْحَقُ

    For your sake, carry to his temple a kiss from me,

    Since his cheek is water wherein his temple is a boat.

  12. بِحَقِّكَ احْمِلْ لي على الصُّدْغ قُبْلةً

    فخدُّكَ ماءٌ فيه صُدْغُكَ زَرْوَقُ

    And if the breeze stirs the water rumple that boat there

    That in that water it may sink.

  13. وإِن شوَّشَ الصدغَ النسيمُ فخلَّها

    عَسَى أَنَّها في ذلك الماءِ تَغْرَقُ

    Or else on the slender waist––so he said to me:

    "To you; for at the waist it is more slender still."

  14. وإِلاَّ على الخَصْرِ الدَّقيق فقال لي

    إِلَيْكَ فإِنَّ الخَصْرَ مِنْ ذَاكَ أَضْيَقُ