لا ويل عاذلتي في الحب بل ويلي

أنا الذي اخترته حتى وهى حيلي

No woe to my reproacher in love—rather, woe to me.

It was I who chose it, until my strength gave way.

يا جارتي طرقُ السلوان تجهلني

واللَه ما خطرت في مثلها خيلي

O my neighbor, the paths of forgetfulness do not know me.

And by God, my horses have never pranced along such paths.

من لي بغانيةٍ شوقي يعذبني

في حبها باللظى والدمع بالسيل

Who will bring me a beauty? My longing torments me

In love for her, with flame; and tears, with their flood.

هيفاء عشَّقني بالسيف ناظرها

والقد بالرمح والأعطاف بالميل

A slender-waisted beauty—her eye made me love her with its sword,

Her stature with its spear, and her curves with their sway.

جرت على بدني ذيل السقام ولو

جرت عليه كساها قوَّمت حيلي

She trailed sickness's train over my body; yet were she

To trail her robes over it, she would restore my strength.

قالت لسائلها المحمرِّ مدمعُه

أوتيت سؤلك هذا النيل من نيلي

She said to her petitioner, whose tearful eye was reddened:

“You have been granted your wish; this favor comes from my bounty.”

واللَه لو بزغت كالشمس في وطني

ما بين جنحين من شعر ومن ليل

And by God, if she rose like the sun in my homeland,

Between two wings of hair and of night,

لبت أرقص كالعصفور من طربي

ولو تقص مقصات الضنى ذيلي

I would spend the night dancing like a sparrow in my rapture,

Even if the scissors of wasting sickness cut my tail.

وجدت باللؤلؤ المذخور من غزلي

لها وساعدتها بالعدِّ والشيل

And I lavished the stored-up pearls of my love poetry

On her, and helped her with counting and carrying.

يا منيةً آه لو صحت لقلت لها

كيل السماح فعندي وافر الكيل

O wish! Ah, if it came true, I would say to her:

“Measure out generosity, for I have measure in abundance.”