حسناءُ ! رِجلُكِ في الركابِ

ويداكِ تعبثُ بالكتابِ

Beautiful one! Your foot is in the stirrup

And your hands fiddle with the book

وأنا الظميءُ إلى شرابك

كان من ريقي شرابي

While I, thirsty for your drink

My saliva was my drink

حسناءُ زاد من اضطرابي

بغيُ التنقص في اضطرابي

Beautiful one, my turmoil increased

I wanted to lessen my turmoil

حسناءُ ساعتُكِ التي

دوَّرتِ كانت من طِلابي

Beautiful one, that hour of yours

When you turned was part of my requests

حاولتُ أجعلها الذريعةَ

لاحتكاكي واقترابي

I tried to make it the excuse

For my rubbing against and approaching you

عبثاً فقد أدركتِ ماتبغي

القُشورُ من اللباب

In vain, for you realized what

The shells wanted from the cores

كنتِ العليمةَ بابن

آوى إذ تَحَلَّق للغراب

You were wise, daughter of

A father whose nest gathered crows

ذلُّ السؤالِ جرعته

فبخلتِ حتى بالجواب

The humiliation of that question I drank

So you were stingy even with an answer

ما كنتُ أعرف قبل هذا

اللطفِ ما لطفُ التغابي

I did not know before this

Kindness what the kindness of accord was

حسناءُ لم يعسُر طِلابي

إن كان ما بكِ مثلَ ما بي

Beautiful one, my request was not difficult

If what is with you is like what is with me

لكن بكِ المرحُ اللعوبُ

وسحرهُ ودمُ الشباب

But with you there is flirtation and play

And its magic and youth’s blood

وبيَ الذي لا شيءَ يعدل

قبحَه إلاَّ التصابي

While with me there is nothing that equals

My ugliness except decay

وخطُ المشيبِ كأنّه

كلأٌ تهيَّأ لاحتطاب

And the line of old age is like

Fodder prepared for burning

حسناءُ والدنيا وأنت

ومن عليها لانقلاب

Beautiful one, and the world and you

And whoever is on it will not last

ما كان مدعاةَ اقترابٍ

عاد مدعاة اجتناب

What was a reason for approaching

Became a reason for avoiding

إنْ يمشِ في فَوديَّ،

مبيضَّين عودٌ من ثقاب

If he walks in my chest ridge,

A rod of embers from matchsticks

فلقد أروح لَّمِتي

كهلالِ عيدٍ في ارتقاب

Then I would go to my solitude

Like an aged crescent waiting

حسناءُ إنَّ الحُبَّ

والصَّبواتِ من شأني ودابي

Beautiful one, passion

And ardors are of my business and custom

أنا نحلةٌ لمَّت من الزهر

المجاجَ من اللُّعاب

I am a bee that sucked from the flowers

The soft resin from the buds

ورَمَت به شُهداً يُلطِّفُ

من مرارة كل صابِ

And threw it as honey that sweetens

The bitterness of every misfortune

حسناءُ لو كان الهوى

والحبُّ يؤخذ باغتصاب

Beautiful one, if love and passion

Were to be taken by force

قد كان ما بيني وبينَكِ

قربَ مِطرقةٍ وباب

There would have been, between me and you

The closeness of hammer and nail

بل كان بُعدَ المشرقَين

وقد رَجَعت إلى صوابي

Rather, the distance between the two horizons

Would have been, and I would have returned to my sanity

كنَّا كأبعد ما يُرى

مُتعذِّران على انجذاب

We would have been, as far as can be seen

Impossible to attract to each other