ما ضر من شفع الصدود ببعده

ما ضر من شفع الصدود ببعده

لو علل الكلف المشوق بوعده

لو علل الكلف المشوق بوعده

What harm would befall him who coupled rejection with his absence,

No harm from the intercession of the aloof with his distance,

if he soothed the ardent, yearning lover with his promise?

If the passionate justifies the alluring with his promise,

أو لو شفاه بزورة بعد النوى

أو لو شفاه بزورة بعد النوى

ليرى الذي فعل البعاد بعبده

ليرى الذي فعل البعاد بعبده

Or if he healed him with a visit after separation,

Or if he heals him with a visit after determination,

to see what absence had done to his slave?

So that the one who acted with distance towards his servant may see,

ظبي من الأتراك خال باله

ظبي من الأتراك خال باله

من حال ملآن الفؤاد بوجده

من حال ملآن الفؤاد بوجده

A gazelle among the Turks, his mind untroubled

A gazelle from the Turks, with an empty mind,

by the plight of one whose heart is full of longing for him.

From a state filled with anguish in his heart,

ريان من ماء الشباب إذا مشى

ريان من ماء الشباب إذا مشى

تثني الغصون على تثني قده

تثني الغصون على تثني قده

Sated with the water of youth, when he walks,

Quenched from the water of youth when he walks,

the boughs praise the swaying of his figure.

The branches bend to the bending of his stature,

ما كنت أشكو من قساوة قلبه

ما كنت أشكو من قساوة قلبه

لو أنه أعدته رقة خده

لو أنه أعدته رقة خده

I would not complain of his heart's hardness,

I would not complain of the harshness of his heart,

if the softness of his cheek had spread to it.

If softness of his cheek restored it,

أبكي ويضحكه التدلل عن نقا

أبكي ويضحكه التدلل عن نقا

برد شفاء محبه في برده

برد شفاء محبه في برده

I weep, while coyness makes him laugh, revealing pure white

I cry while coquetry makes him laugh from tenderness,

hailstones; his lover's cure lies in their coolness.

The coldness of his love’s healing in its coldness,

وأمير حسن ناظري والقلب من

وأمير حسن ناظري والقلب من

أعوانه أبداً علي وجنده

أعوانه أبداً علي وجنده

And a prince of beauty—my eye and heart are among

And the prince of beauty is my watcher while my heart from his supporters,

his helpers and troops, forever against me.

Is forever mine and his soldiers,

علماً بأن اللحظ منه صارم

علماً بأن اللحظ منه صارم

عضب وما حذرا مواقع حده

عضب وما حذرا مواقع حده

Knowing that his glance is a cutting sword,

Knowing that a glance from him is strict,

keen-edged, neither feared where its edge would strike.

Wrath, and not wary of where his limit falls,

لو زارني لفضضت ختم رضابه

لو زارني لفضضت ختم رضابه

ما بغيتي في ورده أو ورده

ما بغيتي في ورده أو ورده

If he visited me, I would break the seal of his saliva;

If he visited me I would remove the seal of his approval,

I seek neither his rose nor his watering-place.

I did not want a rose or his roses,

وأجلت كفي في مجال نطاقه

وأجلت كفي في مجال نطاقه

في غوره وكففتها عن نجده

في غوره وكففتها عن نجده

And I would let my palm roam within his girdle's bounds,

And I held back my palm in the expanse of his reach,

in his lowland, keeping it from his upland.

In his depths, and held it back from his help,

قالوا به سقم فقلت لعله

قالوا به سقم فقلت لعله

في جفنه أو خصره أو عهده

في جفنه أو خصره أو عهده

They said, 'He is ill.' I said, 'Perhaps it is

They said he was ill, so I said perhaps,

in his eyelid, or his waist, or his pledge.'

It is in his eyelid or his waist or his promise,

يا سالبي طيب الرقاد وإنما

يا سالبي طيب الرقاد وإنما

أسفي علي فقد الخيال كفقده

أسفي علي فقد الخيال كفقده

O you who rob me of sweet sleep! It is only that

O you who deprived me of the sweetness of sleep, yet

my grief at losing the dream-image is like my grief at losing him.

I grieve over missing the imagination like missing him,

لولا انتظار الطيف يطرق في الطرى

لولا انتظار الطيف يطرق في الطرى

ما راح دمعي سائلاً في رده

ما راح دمعي سائلاً في رده

Were I not awaiting the phantom's night-visit in slumber,

If not for waiting for the ghost to knock in the darkness,

my tears would not flow, pleading for its return.

My teardrops would not flow questioning his return.