رَمى اللَهُ في عَينَي بُثَينَةَ بِالقَذى

وَفي الغُرِّ مِن أَنيابِها بِالقَوادِحِ

May God cast grit into Buthayna’s eyes—

and gnawing decay into her gleaming teeth.

رَمَتني بِسَهمٍ ريشُهُ الكُحلُ لَم يَضِر

ظَواهِرَ جِلدي فَهوَ في القَلبِ جارِحي

She shot me with an arrow feathered with kohl;

it did not wound my outer skin, yet it cuts within the heart.

أَلا لَيتَني قَبلَ الَّذي قُلتِ شيبَ لي

مِنَ المُذعِفِ القاضي سِمامُ الذَرارِحِ

If only, before there was mixed for me

that weakening, death-dealing poison of the limbs,

فَمُتُّ وَلَم تُعلَم عَلَيَّ خِيانَةٌ

أَلا رُبَّ باغي الرِبحِ لَيسَ بِرابِحِ

I had died, while she knew no treachery in me.

How many a seeker of profit proves no gainer!

فَلا تَحمِليها وَاِجعَليها جِنايَةٌ

تَرَوَّحتُ مِنها في مِياحَةِ مائِحِ

So do not take it upon yourself; count it as an offense

from which I have drawn back, with a water-drawer’s backward sway.

أَبوءُ بِذَنبي أَنَّني قَد ظَلَمتُها

وَإِنّي بِباقي سِرِّها غَيرُ بائِحِ

I confess my sin: I have wronged her;

yet of the rest of her secret I shall disclose nothing.