أتفهمُ ما تقولُ لكَ الجَنوبُ

وليسَ لسانَها إلاَّ الهبُوبُ

Do you understand what the south wind tells you?

Its language is nothing but gusts.

تقولُ أنا الرَّسولُ إليكَ سراً

بما قد كانَ شافهَني الحَبيبُ

It says, I am the messenger to you in secret

With what my beloved has told me mouth to mouth.

أَتيتُ ومنه في بُردي حديثٌ

له أرَجٌ على عِطفي وطيبُ

I came and in my cloak is a conversation

That has a fragrance on my shoulder and is sweet.

فملتُ وقلتُ من طَربي وسُكري

أتيتَ بما تُسرُّ بهِ القلوبُ

So I was filled and I said in my delight and drunkenness

You have come with that which gladdens hearts.

ترى ذاكَ الحبيبُ درَى بأنيِّ

يغيبُ الأُنس عنِّي مُذ يغيبُ

Do you see that beloved who knows that when he is absent

Companionship is lost to me when he goes away?

وأنِّي بعدهَ في العيشِ مالي

ولا في لذَّة الدُّنيا نَصيبُ

And that after him my life holds nothing for me

And no share of the joys of this world.

بُليتُ به أغنَّ غريرَ طَرفٍ

لهُ في كلِّ جارحةٍ نُدوبُ

I have been tested by him, the richest voice

That has wounds in every limb.

مِنَ السُّمرِ الرِّشاقِ إذا تثنَّى

وماسَ يكادُ ينقذُّ القَضيبُ

By the slender and fleet wild deer when it bounds

And what it nearly pierces with its shaft.

بقلبي منه فرطُ أَسىً ووجدٍ

أُعاني منهُ ما جهِلَ الطَّبيبُ

In my heart because of him are excess sorrows and passion

I suffer from him what the doctor does not know.

أقولُ إِذا تذكَّرهُ فُؤادي

هوىً حيثُ الأراكةُ والكَثيبُ

I say when my heart remembers him

Passion where there is a meadow and a hillock.