يا مَن يَهُزُّ قَوامَهُ

سُكرُ الشَبابِ فَيَنتَشي

O you whose figure is set swaying

by youth’s intoxication, and so you grow ecstatic—

أَرحَم فَدَيتُكَ مَن لَهُ

جَسَدٌ بِحُبِّكَ قَد ضَني

have mercy—may I be your ransom—on one whose

body has wasted away through love of you.

اُنظُر إِلَيَّ بِعَينِ را

ضٍ في المَحَبَّةِ مُحسِنِ

Look upon me with the eye of one who is

content in love, and gracious.

القَلبُ رَهنٌ في يَدَي

كَ وَقَد مَلَكتَ فَأَحسِنِ

My heart lies pledged in your

hands; now that you possess it, treat it well.

مالي شَرَيتُكَ غالِياً

وَزَهِدتَ فيَّ فَبِعتَني

How is it that I bought you dearly,

yet you disdained me and sold me?

أَطمَعتَني حَتّى إِذا

عَلِقَ الفُؤادُ هَجَرتَني

You held out hope to me until, when

my heart had grown attached, you abandoned me.

وَرَغِبتَ في وَصلي فَحي

نَ رَغِبتُ فيكَ مَلِلتَني

You desired union with me; but when

I desired you, you grew weary of me.

يا مَن جُعِلتُ فِداؤَهُ

ما هَكَذا عاهَدتَني

O you whose ransom I was made,

this is not the covenant you made with me.

كَم لُذتُ مُعتَصِماً بِصَب

ري في هَواكَ فَرَدَّني

How often I sought refuge, taking shelter in

my patience in loving you—yet it turned me away.

وَطَلَبتُ مِن قَلبي السُلُو

وَ فَقالَ لَيسَ بِمُمكِنِ

I asked my heart to forget;

it answered, “That is impossible.”