دَع الأَجفان تَسلب مِنكَ جِسماً

فَحَسبُكَ أَن تُغادر مِنكَ رَسما

Let your eyelids steal from you a body

It is enough that an image departs from you

وَطب نَفساً بِما قسمت إِذا ما

حَبتك لَدى اِقتِسام السقم سَهما

And console a soul with what fate has apportioned if

Your love draws for me in dividing pain an arrow

إِذا اِحتَكَم الهَوى العُذريُّ فينا

يُنفِّذُ مِن مواضيهنَّ حُكما

If passion, my excuse, arbitrates between us

It executes its judgments from their beds

أَقول لِمَن يُردّد أدعجيه

وَقَد جَعَل القُلوب لِذاكَ مَرمى

I say to those who repeat their censure

And who have made hearts for that a target

غَزالٌ قَد غَزا العُشّاق طُرّاً

بِباهر طرَّة كاللَيل دهما

A gazelle who has raided the lovers wantonly

With a dazzling wantonness like the night, impetuously

وَفاتِكُ طَرفِهِ كَم راش نبلاً

وَفاتر جفنه ما طاشَ سَهما

And how many arrows did its glances miss

And languid was its eyelid that no arrow went astray

وَظلمُ رضابِهِ المَعسول عَنّا

حماه بِقدّهِ العسّال ظُلما

And the injustice of its sweet refusal toward us

Its tallness protected it, unjustly

رُويدك أَيُّها الرَشأُ المُفَدّى

تَرَفَّق بِالشجي كَرَماً وَحلما

Restrain yourself, O scattered blossoms

Be gentle to the lover out of generosity and clemency

يُناجي الطرف طَيفك وَهوَ ناءٍ

فَأَحسَب أَنّ شَخصَك بي أَلمّا

My eyes converse with your specter and it wails

So I reckon your person hurts me

وَأرغب كتم سَرّي في التَصابي

لَدى النَجوى وَيَأبى الدَمع كَتما

And I yearn to conceal my secret in pretense

When whispering, but tears refuse concealing

وَما هَجَعت جُفوني قطُّ إِلّا

عَلى طَمعٍ بِطَيفك أَن يُلمّا

And my eyelids have not slept a wink

Except in hope that your specter will gather me up

أَلا قُل لِلعَواذل كُلّ أَعمى

أراني عَن نَصيحته أَصمّا

Come, say to the censurers, every blind one:

"Do you see me, because of his advice, deaf?"

أَرَدتُم طفءَ نور أَخي التَصابي

وَيَأبى اللَه إِلّا أَن يُتمّا

You wanted to extinguish the light of my brotherly passion

But God refuses anything but to perfect it

وَحَسبي أَن وَجدي لَيسَ إِلّا

بِأَحمَد لا بهندٍ أَو بِسَلمى

And it suffices me that my love is only

For Ahmad, not for Hind or Salma.