1. هتف البحر بالعذارى فلبّ

    ين وجنّت أمواجه الهيمانه

    The sea called to the maidens, and they answered,

    and its lovesick waves went mad.

  2. وتنادين ما أحبّك يا صي

    ف وما أجمل الهوى وزمانه

    They called to one another: 'How dear you are, O summer!

    How lovely love is, and its season!'

  3. وتواكبن ينثنين دلالا

    ويغنين للصبا ألحانه

    And they moved together, swaying coyly,

    and sang youth its melodies.

  4. دمية عند دمية وغزال

    جنب ظبي ودوحة عند بانة

    A doll beside a doll, a gazelle

    beside an antelope, a spreading tree beside a bān tree.

  5. قبلات تجسدت فاستحالت

    زهرات من المنى نديانه

    Kisses took bodily form and became

    dewy blossoms of desire.

  6. وأغاريد سلسلتها يد اللَه

    وأغرى بحبها إنسانه

    And songs strung together by God's hand,

    and He enticed His human creature to love them.

  7. عبرت بي منهن أغنية سك

    رى حباها ملك الهوى سلطانه

    One of them passed by me—a drunken song,

    on whom Love's king had bestowed his dominion.

  8. وكساها الفن الإلهي ثوبا

    سرق الزهر والسنا ألوانه

    And divine art clothed her in a robe

    whose colors the flowers and radiance stole.

  9. بنت غاب تود لو يرجع الغا

    ب لتروى أشواقها الظمآنه

    A daughter of the forest, wishing the forest would return

    so her thirsty longings might be quenched.

  10. عبرت بي فقلت هذا هو الفن

    وإلا فلن أكون لسانه

    She passed by me, and I said, 'This is art itself,

    or else I shall never be its tongue.'

  11. ورأتني حيران منتهب العين فحي

    ت بالطلعة الفتّانه

    She saw me bewildered, my gaze enthralled, and greeted me

    with her bewitching face.

  12. واستراحت على الرمال فضجّت

    صبوات في خاطري يقظانه

    She rested on the sands, and a clamor rose

    from wakeful desires within my mind.

  13. كان في عينها وفي شفتي

    ها شهوات مخمورة لهفانه

    In her eyes and upon her lips

    were drunken, yearning desires.

  14. جاذبتها من لهفتي واحتراقي

    صرخات مجنونة سكرانه

    From my yearning and burning, she was drawn

    by mad, drunken cries.

  15. خلت قلب الوجود يرعشه الحب

    فيشدو أنغامه الفرحانه

    I thought love made the heart of existence tremble,

    so it sang its joyous melodies,

  16. حين قالت والليل يتلو على الكو

    ن أحاديث صمته النشوانه

    when she spoke, as night recited to the universe

    the drunken tales of its silence:

  17. ما تكون الحياة من غير حب

    قلت شيءٌ لا استطيع بيانه

    'What is life without love?'

    I said, 'Something I cannot explain.

  18. أنا لم أعرف الهوى في حياتي وأر

    اني لن أصطلى نيرانه

    I have never known love in my life, and I believe

    I shall never warm myself at its fires.

  19. لي قلب أخشى الهوان عليه

    وإباءٌ حماه قلبي وصانه

    I have a heart whose humiliation I fear,

    and a pride my heart has guarded and preserved.'

  20. قالت اسأل به خبيراً فإني ذقت

    في الحب عزّه وهوانه

    She said, 'Ask one versed in it, for I have tasted

    in love its glory and its humiliation.'

  21. قلت من أنت قالت الجنة الحمراء

    واسمى إذا أردت فلانه

    I said, 'Who are you?' She said, 'The Red Paradise;

    and my name, if you wish, is So-and-so.'

  22. ودنت من يدي فشبّت لهيبي

    وأثارت عواطفي النعسانه

    She drew near my hand and kindled my fire,

    and roused my drowsy passions.

  23. وأدارت علي من ثغرها الدا

    فىء كأسا عبدت فيه جمانه

    And from her warm mouth she offered me

    a cup in which I worshipped its pearls.

  24. ثم قالت وصدرها بين كفيّ

    تناجي أناملي رمانه

    Then she said, her breast between my palms,

    my fingertips whispering to its pomegranates:

  25. لك منى ما تشتهيه ولي من

    ك غرام تضفى عليّ حنانه

    'You shall have from me whatever you desire; and I, from

    you, a love whose tenderness you bestow upon me.'

  26. قلت هذا وعد أعيش عليه

    وأفدّى بالعالمين مكانه

    I said, 'This is a promise I shall live on,

    and would ransom its place with all the worlds.'

  27. وصحا الفجر فانثنت تتهادى

    نسمة حرة الشذا ريانه

    And dawn awoke; she turned away, swaying gently,

    a dew-fresh breeze, its fragrance unbound.

  28. ثم حبّت بكفها وتوارت فأهاجت

    لخافقي أشجانه

    Then she waved her hand and vanished, stirring

    the sorrows of my beating heart.

  29. يا هواها الرهيب ماذا قضى

    الغيب علينا وما أخذنا أمانه

    O fearsome love of her, what has

    the unseen decreed for us? We have obtained no pledge of safety from it.

  30. لك منّى ما تشتهي يا لقلبي

    لو أطالت من قربها حرمانه

    You shall have from me whatever you desire—alas for my heart,

    if she were to prolong its deprivation of her nearness!