1. كلَّما ازددتُ في هواكَ غُلواً

    زدتَ فيه تجبُّراً وعُتُوَّا

    Whenever I grew more excessive in my love for you,

    you grew more tyrannical and defiant in it.

  2. أنتَ أنتَ الحبيبُ سِراً وجَهراً

    لي وإِن كنتَ في القياسِ عَدُوَّا

    You, you are the beloved, secretly and openly,

    to me, though by reason's reckoning you are an enemy.

  3. لا ومُغريكَ بالبعادِ الذي رح

    تَ لِحَيني تحبُّ منه الدُّنُوَّا

    No—by the one who lures you to estrangement, whose

    closeness you have come to love, to my ruin—

  4. ما غدا البدرُ في سَناهُ سَمياً

    لكَ إِلاَّ لَّما حكاكَ سُمُوَّا

    the full moon in its radiance became your peer

    only when it mirrored your loftiness.

  5. أَحنِ منِّي على الضُّلوعِ لهيباً

    لم يَزدني عليكَ إلاَّ حُنُوا

    Bend a flame over my ribs—

    it has only increased my tenderness for you.

  6. قلتُ للطَّالبينَ عَنكَ سُلُويِّ

    أينَ قَلبٌ به أرومُ السُّلوَّا

    I told those who would have me forget you:

    Where is a heart with which I might seek to forget?

  7. اتركُوني وما أُجِنُّ فما يَع

    رِفُ مَن يَعرفُ المِلاحَ هُدوَّا

    Leave me with what I conceal: no one knows

    repose who knows the beautiful.

  8. ودَعوني والوجدَ حتَّى تَرَوني

    وأصلاً فيهِ بالرَّواحِ غُدُوَّا

    And leave me with passion until you see me

    joining morning to evening in it.

  9. كيفَ لا أعشقُ المعاطفَ غِيداً

    حينَ تهتزُّ والَمراشفَ حُوَّا

    How could I not love supple forms

    when they sway, and dusky lips?