أعَلِمتَ ما فَعلتْ به أجفانُه

سحَّتْ فباحَتْ بالهوَى أشجانُهُ

You knew what their eyelids did to him

They brushed over, so their love filled his sorrows

نمَّتْ على حَسَراتِه زفَراتُهُ

وكذَا ينمُّ على الضِرَام دُخَانُهُ

His sighs grew over his regrets

And so does its smoke grow over burning embers

وأخُو الهوَى مثلُ الكتابِ دليلُ ذا

كَ عِيانُهُ ودليلُ ذَا عُنوانُهُ

And the brother of love is like a book's guide

Its clarity is its guide and its title is its guide

تَحكِي البروقُ فؤادَه فَضِرَامُها

أشواقُهُ وخُفوقُها خَفقَانُهُ

The lightnings narrate his heart so their flashes

Are his passions and their flickers are its flutters

ضَمِنَ الهَوى ألاّ يَزالَ أخَا ضَنىً

وضَمانَةٍ فَوَفَى بذَاك ضَمانُهُ

Love pledged it will remain a fellow of yearning

And it fulfilled that pledge, such is its pledge

يا مُدَّعِي السُّلوانِ عن أحبابِهِ

أينَ السُّلُوُّ وأينَ منكَ أوانُهُ

O you who claim to be done with your loved ones

Where is your aloofness and where is its time?

شطًّتْ دِيارُك عنهُمُ وهفَا بِكَ الشْ

شَوقُ المبرِّحُ والتَظَتْ نِيرانُهُ

Your homelands parted from them and longing carried you

The dates are jolly and the fires are blazing

وأبانَ بينهُمُ هَواكَ فما عَسى

بكَ فاعلٌ هذَا الهَوى وبيانُهُ

And your love exposed you, so what can one do?

This love did it and so did its clarity

كاتَمتَ واشِيَكَ الهَوى قبلَ النّوى

فَبَدا له من بَعدِها كِتمانُهُ

You concealed while healthy, before falling ill

So after that concealment was revealed

وعَصَاكَ دمعُكَ عند خَطرةِ ذِكْرِهم

وبِقَدْرِ طَاعَتِك الهَوَى عِصيانُهُ

And your tear disobeyed when you thought of them

As much as you obeyed love, you disobeyed it

فإذا تَبادرَ من جُفونِك خِلْتَهُ

عِقداً وَهَي مَرجانُهُ وجُمَانُهُ

So when its beads dripped from your eyelids

As bracelets, coral and pearls

لو أيقَنَ الحَنِقُ الحسودُ عليهِمُ

حَظّي لَحالَتْ رحمةً أضغَانُهُ

If the resentful envier knew my fortune through them

His grudges would turn into mercy

بين المُحبِّ وبينَهُم من هَجرِهم

بينٌ طويلٌ بَرحُهُ وزَمانُهُ

Between the lover and them from their estrangement

Is a long separation, far-reaching and lasting

أبْدَوا لَه مَلَلَ القَريبِ مع النَّوى

وتَنَاسِيَ النّائِي وهُم جِيرَانُهُ

They showed him the boredom of a neighbor, while yearning

And forgetting the distant, though neighbors they are

وتَخَلّقَ الطّيفُ الطّروقُ بِخُلْقِهم

فَإذَا ألَمَّ يَرُوعني هِجرانُهُ

The phantom appeared to them in their form

So when it hurts me, their estrangement horrifies me

وَهُم الصّبَا أيامُه محبوبَةٌ

وإنِ اعتدَى في غَيِّهِ شَيطانُهُ

And they are the youth, its days are beloved

Though his devil transgresses in his confusion

وجَمالُهُم كَفَّارةٌ لِمَلالِهِم

والهجرُ ذنبٌ يُرتَجَى غُفرانُهُ

Their beauty makes up for their boredom

And estrangement is a sin, hoping its forgiveness

لو يعلَمُونَ مكانَهُم ما أضْرَموا

قَلبِي بِهَجرِهِمُ وهُم سُكّانُهُ

If they knew their place, they would not have

Scorched my heart with their estrangement, and they are its inhabitants

ولجَهلِهمْ طَرَفوا بطُول صدُودِهم

وَملاَلِهم طَرفْي وهُم إنْسَانُهُ

In their ignorance, they glanced with prolonged aloofness

And boredom, glancing at my eyes, and they are its humanity