1. لِلَّهِ أَشقَرُ لَو تُجاريه الصَّبا

    باعاً لَخَرت لِليَدَينِ وَلِلفَمِ

    By God—what a chestnut horse! Should the east wind race him

    for a single fathom’s length, it would surely fall upon its hands and mouth.

  2. وكأَنّه وَعَلَيهِ عَبدٌ أَسودٌ

    نارٌ تَأَجَّجُ في فُؤَادِ مُتَيَّمِ

    And as though he—with a black necklace upon him—were

    a fire blazing in the heart of a love-enthralled man;

  3. أَو فَحمَةٌ سَوداءُ أُوقِدَ بَعضُها

    فَنَظَرت مِنهَا أشقراً في أَدهَمِ

    or a black coal, part of it set alight,

    in which you would behold a chestnut horse within a black one.

  4. وَكَأَنَّما هُوَ يُجرَى بِهِ

    بَرقٌ يَفِرُّ بِقِطعِ لَيلٍ مُظلِمِ

    And when he is put to the gallop, it is as though he were

    a lightning bolt fleeing through patches of a dark night.