عَلِيلٌ أَنْتَ مُسْقِمُهُ

فَمَا لَكَ لا تُكَلِّمُهُ

You are ill, and wasted away,

Yet you do not speak to me.

سَرَى فِيهِ الضَّنَى حَتَّى

بَدَتْ لِلْعَيْنِ أَعْظُمُهُ

Sorrow has overtaken you,

Until it is clear in your eyes.

فَلا إِنْ بَاحَ تَعْذِرُهُ

وَلا إِنْ نَاحَ تَرْحَمُهُ

Do not make excuses if you confess,

Nor weep that I may pity you.

إِذَا كَانَ الْهَوَى ذَنْبِي

فَقُلْ لِي كَيْفَ أَكْتُمُهُ

If passion is my sin,

Tell me, how can I hide it?

وَدَمْعِي أَنْتَ مُرْسِلُهُ

وَقَلْبِي أَنْتَ مُؤْلِمُهُ

You unleash my tears,

And torment my heart.

وَلا وَاللَّهِ مَا لِي فِي الْ

هَوَى ذَنْبٌ فَأَعْلَمُهُ

By God, I have no sin in love,

So do not blame me for it.

فَوَيْلِي مِنْ غَرِيبِ الدَّلْ

لِ أَبْلانِي تَحَكُّمُهُ

Woe to me, for the strange heart

That made me obey its whim!

تَرَدَّدَ فِي مَحَبَّتِهِ

وَلَمْ يَسْمَحْ بِهَا فَمُهُ

He hesitated in his love,

And did not allow his mouth to speak it.

غَزَالٌ أَحْوَرُ الْعَيْنَيْ

نِ لا يَسْلُو مُتَيَّمُهُ

A gazelle, dark-eyed,

That cannot cure lovesickness.

يَهِيمُ بِحُسْنِ صُورَتِهِ

فُؤادِي وَهوَ يَظْلِمُهُ

My heart is possessed by his beauty,

While he wrongs it.

نَسَبْتُ بِهِ فَبَانَ عَلَى

جَبِينِ الشِّعْرِ مِيسَمُهُ

I attributed him, so his name

Appeared on the cheek of poetry.

فَمَا لِي فِي الَّذِي أُمْلِي

هِ مِنْ فَضْلٍ فَأَغْنَمُهُ

I have no merit over what I dictate,

So I cannot claim it.

وَلَكِنْ حُسْنُهُ يَبْدُو

إِلَى عَيْنِي فَتَرْسُمُهُ

But his beauty appears

To my eyes, so I depict it,

وَيَنْثُرُ لَفْظَهُ دُرّاً

عَلَى سَمْعِي فَأَنْظِمُهُ

And his words scatter pearls

Upon my hearing, so I string them as verses.

وَلَوْلا ذَاكَ مَا لاحَتْ

بِأُفْقِ الشِّعْرِ أَنْجُمُهُ

If not for that, his stars would not

Have risen on the horizon of poetry.

فَقُلْ مَا شِئْتَ في شِعْرِي

وَخَيْرُ الْقَوْلِ أَحْكَمُهُ

Say what you will of my verse,

The best words are the most just.