ذكرتُ والقلبُ أَسيرُ الذِّكْرِ

ليلَةَ وَصْلٍ سَلَفَتْ مِنْ عمْرِي

I remembered while my heart is captive to remembrance

On a night of union that passed from my life

أَقْصَرُ من تجلُدي وصَبْري

رقَّت فكادت رقَّةً أَن تَجْرِي

Shorter than my endurance and patience

It softened, almost to the point of flowing

كأَنَها مخلوقةٌ من شِعْرِي

تفضُلُ عِنْدِي أَلْفَ أَلِف شَهْر

As if it was created from my poetry

It exceeds in my view a thousand thousand months

ما هي إِلاَّ خالُ وجْهِ الدَّهْرِ

فَضَحْتُ فيها بَدْرَها ببَدْرِي

It is but an instant in the cheek of time

I exposed through it its full moon with my full moon

وبان فيها عذرُها وعُذْرِي

وبعْتُ فيها صحْوَتِي بسُكْرِي

And through it her excuse and my excuse became clear

And in it I sold my sobriety for my drunkenness

منْ خَصِر الريق رقيقُ الخَصْرِ

أَحسنَ من سلْمَى وأُم عمرو

From the slim waist, slender of waist

More beautiful than Salma and Umm ‘Amr

ذي مُقْلةٍ مل فترَتْ من فَتَرٍ

قد عُوضت من إِثْمِدٍ بالسِّحرِ

With languid eyes, exhausted from languor

She has been ransomed from lethal poison by sorcery

واللهِ لو كانَ إِليَّ أَمْري

رميتُ كَسْرَ جَفْنِهَا بِجَبْرِ

By Allah, if my matter were up to me

I would have cast the lid of her eye in splints

لعلَّ أَن تَجْبُر مِني كَسْري

وبتُ أُخْفِي ضوءَ ذاك الثَّغْر

Perhaps it would mend me from my breakage

And I would spend the night hiding the light of that smile

كي لا أَرُوعَ لَيْلَتي بفَجْرِي

يا ليلةً قد أَسرفتْ في بِرِّي

Lest I startle my night with my dawn

O night that went too far in blessing me

مضَتْ ولم يمض عليها شُكْرِي

رُزِئت منها اليومَ خيرَ ذُخْرِي

It passed and my gratitude to it did not pass

Today I was derided for the best of my hoards

فأَعْظَمَ اللهُ عَلَيْهَا أَجْرِي

So may Allah increase its reward from me