وَعاذِلينَ أَلَحّوا في مَحَبَّتِها

يا لَيتَهُم وَجَدوا مِثلَ الَّذي أَجِدُ

And reproachers pressed me relentlessly for loving her—

if only they felt the like of what I feel.

لَمّا أَطالوا عِتابي فيكِ قُلتُ لَهُم

لا تُكثِروا بَعضَ هَذا اللَومِ وَاِقتَصِدوا

When they prolonged their reproach of me for you, I told them:

Do not heap up so much of this blame; show restraint.

قَد ماتَ قَبلي أَخو نَهدٍ وَصاحِبُهُ

مُرَقِّشٌ وَاِشتَفى مِن عُروَةَ الكَمَدُ

Before me died the man of Nahd, and his fellow—

Muraqqish; and anguish took its fill of Urwa.

وَكُلُّهُم كانَ مِن عِشقٍ مَنِيَّتُهُ

وَقَد وَجَدتُ بِها فَوقَ الَّذي وَجَدوا

For every one of them, love was his appointed death,

yet through her I have suffered more than they suffered.

إِنّي لَأَحسَبُ أَو قَد كُدتُ أُعلِمُهُ

أَن سَوفَ تورِدُني الحَوضَ الَّذي وَرَدوا

I truly believe—or have nearly come to know—

that she will bring me to the watering-place they entered,

إِن لَم تَنَلني بِمَعروفٍ تَجودُ بِهِ

أَو يَدفَعَ اللَهُ عَنّي الواحِدُ الصَمَدُ

unless some kindness she freely grants should reach me,

or God—the One, the Eternal Refuge—wards this fate from me.

فَما يُضَرَّ اِمرَأً أَمسى وَأَنتِ لَهُ

أَن لا يَكونَ مِنَ الدُنيا لَهُ سَنَدُ

What harm is it to a man, when evening finds You there for him,

if he has no support in all the world?