اللي سلاني مثل سلي الدهاني

حلو المَعاني بالهَوى مطرباني

The one who forgot me, as al-Dahani forgot,

Sweet in character, delighting me in love.

جسمي انعلي من نواجيد غلي

يا ين هلي مايع الدَمع قاني

My body grew sick from the seething pangs of longing.

O eye, pour forth your flowing, crimson tears.

يا عين هلي مايع الدَمع هليه

قلبي مؤلم دايم الدُوم يحديه

O eye, pour forth the flowing tears; pour them.

My heart aches, driven onward forever and ever.

همي إِذا شظوه عالحيد يضويه

ويثقل ظُهور مدبرات السواني

My grief, if they loaded it onto a mountain, would wear it down,

And burden the backs of the returning water-drawing beasts.

يا هم وشلك جُوز يا شين مني

دَعيتني مثل الهجين المسني

O grief, what do you want? Leave me, you wretched thing!

You have made me like an aged riding camel.

قال الغَرام اللي شَظاني ما كنى

في حب براق الرهاف اثماني

The passion that burdened me spoke without concealment,

Of love for the one whose fine-edged front teeth gleam.

في حب براق النَحر عفت رُوحي

وَمزون عيني فوق خدي تسوحي

In love with the one whose throat gleams, I forsook my soul.

My eyes' rainclouds stream over my cheek.

إِن كان يا مفتون تسمع وتوحي

جرحك عَميق يريد لَو مومياني

If, O love-struck one, you listen and heed,

Your wound is deep; it needs at least mumiya balm.

قلت الدَوا في ديرة الترك ما لقاه

أَيضاً وَلا يُوجد نهايا حلاياه

I said: The cure is not found in the Turks' land,

Nor is any end to his charms to be found.

حلو المَعاني ما عغيره مشافاه

ما ينوجد له بالغرانيق ثاني

Sweet in character—there is no healing through anyone else;

Among the crane-like beauties, no equal can be found.

إن ما وجدتو ما وجدت الدَوالي

راعي الجعود السابلات الدَوالي

If I do not find him, I have not found my cure.

The one with loose-hanging curls like trailing vines,

من فوق غيده متل عين الغَزالي

إِن طالعت بِأَرض الخَلا مودماني

Over a graceful form, with eyes like a gazelle's,

When a tawny gazelle gazes across the open country.

هذا دَوالي لا بُد وَالتَقينا

وَراعيت مجدول الغَطارف وَزينه

This is my cure—surely, when we meet,

And I behold his braided tresses and beauty,

وَاطري السَلام اللي بدابه حدينا

أَبرى لَو أَني بِالوجع من زَماني

And recall the greeting with which our chanting began,

I shall recover, even though I have suffered pain for ages.

أَبرى وَتبرى بِالمَراهم جُروحي

إِن شُفت أَنا مضنون عَين وَرُوحي

I shall recover, and ointments shall heal my wounds,

If I see the one cherished by my eye and soul.

النَفس لا غفت جُفوني تَروحي

وَإِن نمت طَيفي من ثمانه سَقاني

When my eyelids fall asleep, my soul goes wandering.

And if I sleep, my dream-vision gives me drink from his front teeth.

أَما هجوعي مِن غَرامي قَليلي

ما غط جنح اللَيل مثل العَليلي

Yet my sleep is scant because of my passion.

Beneath night's wing, I lie sleepless like an invalid.

مَن شافَني يُوجس لَظايا شعبلي

مِن حر ناري ساحَتي ما يداني

Whoever sees me senses the flames blazing within me.

From the heat of my fire, no one approaches my ground.

من حر ناري يبعدوا عايديني

لَو يَسمعوا فَوق الوَسايد عَنيني

From the heat of my fire, my visitors draw away,

If they hear my groaning upon the pillows.

قالوا مهبل قلت عقلي رصيني

هذا غَرام وَما برأسي جناني

They said, 'Mad!' I said, 'My mind is sound.'

This is passion, not madness in my head.

هذا غَرام وَواهج الوَجد يحديه

كُل ما كتمته جمرة الحُب تُبديه

This is passion, driven onward by longing's blaze.

Whenever I conceal it, love's ember reveals it.

مَضنون عَيني بِالمَلا من يُراعيه

عدة مَشاهد خاص حور الجناني

Whoever beholds my eye's cherished one among the crowd—

A host of wonders, the choicest of Paradise's houris.

عدة مَشاهد مشهدة لا بدا بهِ

اللي مثل شهد الخَلايا رضابه

A host of wonders to behold whenever they show in him,

The one whose saliva is like honey from the hives.

حلو السوالف مثل ربش الذوابة

من فُوق جيد الجافل التيتلاني

Lovely sidelocks, like a tousled forelock,

Above the neck of a startled wild antelope.

مِن فُوق زين البيض مَحفوظ زينو

اللي مثل بَدر الدَياجي جبينو

Above the fairest of fair ones, whose beauty is guarded,

Whose forehead is like the full moon of dark nights.

وَجهاً مكمل بِالبها عاج بينو

في آية الكُرسي وَسَبع المَثاني

A face perfected in splendor, with ivory showing in it,

Protected by the Throne Verse and the Seven Oft-Repeated Verses.

في آية الكُرسي الغَضي دُوم مَحفوظ

مِن شر حاسود من الناس عاروض

The tender beloved is always guarded by the Throne Verse,

From the evil of any envious, obstructive person.

المنحر الريان مشفي عَلى الروض

بِهِ طلع تين وبه زهر اقحواني

The full, fresh bosom overlooks the garden.

In it, figs bud and daisies bloom.

به طلع تين احمر حلمهم ذهوبي

سرده يميلها نسيم الهبوبي

Figs have budded there, red, with golden nipples.

A slender form that the blowing breeze sways,

مربوعة خمص الوسط وَالكعوبي

إِن شافَها اللي ما فتن قال أَماني

Of medium height, slim at waist and ankles.

If an unenthralled man sees her, he cries, 'Spare me!'

إِن شافَها اللي ما متن قال غابت

نَفسي ومني مُهجة القَلب ذابَت

If one not yet dead sees her, he says, 'Gone

Is my soul, and my heart's lifeblood has melted away from me.'

يا حوبتي من نظرتي الرُوح لابت

بِالرَغم حادي المَوت صاح وَدَعاني

Alas for me! At my glance, my soul wandered restlessly.

Against my will, death's driver cried out and summoned me.

اشلي بمنظر ناعم الطَرف وَالعين

كُل لَمحة نيران بِالقَلب وَالعين

What have I to do with the sight of that tender gaze and eye?

Every glance is fire in the heart and eye.

خلي عَشيقه يَمزج النوح بالعين

أَما بِها الَّذي اِبتَلاه اِبتَلاني

My beloved's lover mingles lament with tears.

Through her, what afflicted him has afflicted me.

مِن نَظرَتي عَقلي من الراس طاشي

اللَه اِبتَلاني في هَواهُم يلاشي

At one glance, my wits flew from my head.

God afflicted me with love for them; it lays me waste.

خليتها وَبقيت عالدَرب ماشي

لَكن غَرامي عالمها في حداني

I left her and kept walking along the road.

But the passion within me drove me toward the oryx-like beauty.

ناديت يا معشوقها دُونك إياه

اللَه يباركلك بصافي ثَناياه

I called, 'O her beloved, take that one!'

May God bless you with those bright front teeth.

بس الأَمان من الغَرام وَهَواياه

كلمتها تاب امنحيه الأَماني

I ask only safety from passion and its cravings.

I said to her, 'He has repented; grant him safety.'

كلمتها لكن غشاني ضياها

الشَمس تكسر ناظر اللي يراها

I spoke to her, but her radiance overwhelmed me.

The sun breaks the gaze of whoever looks at it.

ثم اِنتَشيت العبقري من غذاها

وَشميت عُطر مسلكات القَناني

Then I grew intoxicated by the wondrous essence of her nourishment.

And smelled the perfume of scent-filled bottles.

يا حلو لا تُنكر لبعدي وِدادي

يا عين حر الصيد حبت الهدادي

O sweet one, do not deny my affection because I am distant.

O eye of the noble hunting falcon, fond of being loosed to hunt.

مهكوب ماني من غَرامي جَوادي

تسعين كي البعد عنك كَواني

My steed, not I, is stricken by my passion.

Separation from you has branded me with ninety cautery marks.

يا زين يا حلو النبا وَالخدودي

يا سايل التسعة الحَنايا الجعودي

O lovely one, sweet in speech and cheeks.

O one whose curls flow in nine curving coils.

يا نافر البيض الصغار النهودي

مِن تحت طي الناعم الطيلساني

O one with small, white, budding breasts,

Beneath the folds of the soft taylasan shawl.

يا نافل الغيدا الشقاح الرواحي

يا ناعس السُود العُيون الطفاحي

O one surpassing the slender, rosy beauties as they pass.

O one with drowsy, brimming black eyes.

يا سيد كل الغاويين الملاحي

يا حسن يوسف يا ظريف المعاني

O master of all the alluring, handsome ones.

O beauty of Yusuf, O graceful one in every way.

يا خاص يا جني الطرد يا وليفي

يا هابط الصرح اللطيف النظيفي

O choice one, O fruit of the chase, O my beloved.

O one descending from the lovely, spotless palace.

بحيث إِن أَظهرت صافي غريفي

من بعد ما سرى وَغيط المباني

For if I revealed my clear inner depths,

After it had journeyed by night through the depths of the buildings,

اليَوم سري معظم الشوق يبديه

وَمضمون قافي كل حين لغايبه

Today overwhelming longing reveals my secret.

And my rhyme's meaning is always for the absent beloved.

أَما كَلامي من يفسر معانيه

وَيوعي فُنون وَعاب جسمي وَشبنا

As for my words, who will explain their meanings,

And understand their artistry? My body is marred, and we have grown gray.

إِن كان عَن باهي جضمالك حجبنا

وَلم حنوطي بِالعجل وَالكفاني

If we are barred from your radiant beauty,

Then gather my burial spices and shrouds in haste.

وَلم حنوطي بالعجل للمماتي

من فرط وَجدي عاف جسمي حَياتي

And gather my burial spices quickly for my death.

From excessive longing, my body has forsaken my life.

هجرك غَريمي وَالنَوى يا شقاتي

شط المَزار وَحادي العيس باني

Your abandonment is my adversary; separation—oh, my misery!

The meeting place is distant, and the pale camels' driver has departed.

شط المَزار وَزاد قَلبي هيامي

مَشغوف وَناري مثل نار القيامي

The meeting place is distant, and my heart's yearning has grown.

Love-struck, my fire is like the fire of Resurrection.

إِن متت خطوا للمعطر سَلامي

بِالمسك وَالكافور وَالزعفَراني

If I die, write my greeting to the perfumed one,

With musk, camphor, and saffron.

بالمصطَفى اختم كَلاماً بديناه

يَشفَع لَنا يُوم الحَشر وَالمُناجاه

With al-Mustafa, the Chosen One, I close the words we began.

May he intercede for us on the Day of Gathering and supplication.

يَختم لَنا بِالخير يُوم المُوالاه

وَيفكنا من عشرة التركواني

May he grant us a good ending on the day of allegiance.

And free us from the company of the Turkowani.