الليلُ ومثلي يسهدُهُ

والنجمُ ومثلي يرصُدُهُ

The night resembles me as it wakes in sorrow,

And the star resembles me as it is watched.

تفنى الأيامُ ولي نَوحٌ

ورقاءُ الدوحِِ تردّدُهُ

The days pass away while I grieve,

The palms of the valley echo it.

عَجَباً أشتاقُ إِلى رَشإ

مرعَاهُ حَشايَ ومَورِدُهُ

Strangely, I yearn for the pasture,

Whose plants are rugged and whose watering place quenched my thirst.

وتَظَلّ النفسُ تحِنّ لَهُ

وبظلّ فؤادي مَرقَدُهُ

And my soul continues longing for it,

While my heart rests in its shade.

يا أهلَ العشق بربّكُمُ

أسمعتُم ما أتَكَبّدُهُ

O people of passion, for your Lord's sake,

Tell me what burdens me!

كاتمتُ الدمعَ هوًى فوشا

والدمع كذلك أعهدُهُ

I suppressed my tears in passionate love,

And likewise taught my tears to restrain themselves.

وسقيتُ القلبَ حميّا الح

هبِّ فخان القلبَ تجلّدُهُ

I quenched my heart with the wine of love,

Alas! My heart was treacherous in concealing it.

حَتّامَ يواخي الستر فتىًُ

لمسَ الأفلاكَ تنهدُهُ

Hatim cries out seeking refuge, a young man

Whose sorrows have reached the sky's vault.

يا مَن أوشكتُ أحجّ لهُ

وكرَبِّ الكعبَةِ أعبُدُهُ

O you whom I will soon circle around in pilgrimage,

And the Kaaba I will worship.

رفقاً بمعنّى هواك فقد

كادَ العوّاد تَعَدّدُهُ

Be gentle with the meaning of your love,

For it almost kills your lover.

واعطف مولايَ على دنِفٍ

فلعلَّ بعطفِك تُسعِدُهُ

And have mercy, my Master, on an outcast in misery,

Perhaps with your kindness you may make him prosperous.

لم يُبق هواك به رمقاً

هيهات يُشاهِدُهُ غَدُهُ

Your love has left him no life,

Alas! Tomorrow he will not see it.