1. أماناً من الألحاظِ يا صعدةَ القدِّ

    لعلي بلِثمي أجتني وَردةَ الخدِّ

    Grant me safety from those glances, O you of spear-straight stature,

    Perhaps with my kiss I may pluck the rose of your cheek.

  2. وفَضا لذاكَ الخَتمِ يا مِسكةَ اللَّمى

    لأَرشُفَ ما في ذلكَ الثغرِ من شُهدِ

    And break that seal, O musk of dusky lips,

    So I may sip the honey within that mouth.

  3. عَذولي هَداكَ اللهُ إِن كنتَ عازماً

    على نزعِ قلبي من غرامٍ ومنَ وَجدِ

    My reproacher—may God guide you—if you are resolved

    To wrest my heart from passion and love's anguish,

  4. فصُن ناظري أَو عنه صُن مسرحَ الظبَّا

    وإِلاَّ فهذا اللَّومُ والعَتبُ ما يجدي

    Then guard my eye, or shield the gazelles' pasture from it;

    Otherwise, this blame and reproach do no good.

  5. نظرتُ بطَرفيِ يومَ نُعمانَ نظرَةً

    على غِرةٍ منِّي عدِمتُ بها رُشدي

    I cast a glance with my eye on the day of Nuʿmān,

    While off my guard; through it I lost my good sense.

  6. تَملّكَ منها رِقَّ قلبي وحازَهُ

    هنالِكَ قاسٍ لا يرِقُّ على عَبدِ

    Through it, my heart was taken in bondage and possessed—

    There, by a cruel one who has no pity on a slave.

  7. رَشيقُ قوامِ القدِّ يَثني إِذا انثنَى

    حشَى مُهجتي للجزرِ والدَّمعَ للمدِّ

    Gracefully slender of figure, when he bends he turns

    My heart's depths toward ebb, and my tears toward flood.

  8. يُغازِلُ عن ريمٍ وينظرُ عَن مَهاً

    ويسفرُ عن بَدرٍ ويَبسِمُ عن عِقدِ

    He flirts like a white gazelle and gazes like oryxes;

    And he unveils a full moon and smiles to reveal a necklace.

  9. جَفاني فلم تبرَح جُفوني بِهجعةٍ

    وأُنسيتُ نَومي حينَ طالَ به عهدي

    He shunned me, so my eyelids never drifted into slumber;

    And I was made to forget my sleep, so long had it been since I knew it.

  10. لئنِ قيضَت لي طَيفَه سِنَةُ الكَرى

    فأيُّ يدٍ مشكورةٍ للكَرَى عندي

    If sleep's drowsiness should bring me his phantom,

    Then what a debt of gratitude I would owe to sleep!