ما تثنى الغصن الا وصفا

لك قداً وقواماً اهيفا

The branch swayed only to describe

Your stature and your slender-waisted form.

يطرب الغصن إذا شبهته

بك حتى ينثني منعطفا

The branch rejoices whenever I liken it

To you, until it bends and curves.

وسلاف الراح في نشوتها

تصف الثغر فتحلو مرشفا

And the choicest wine, in its intoxication,

Describes the mouth, becoming sweet to sip.

أرضاب الثغرام مشمولة

قد جرت في لؤلؤة قد رصفا

Is it the mouth's nectar, or north-wind-chilled wine

That has flowed through a pearl set in place?

فيه المظامي شفاء من جوى

لو رأى الظامي سبيلا للشفا

In it is healing for the thirsty from love's anguish,

If the thirsty could see a path to the cure.

وخلي في الهوى عنفني

وهو لو قاسى الهوى ما عنفا

And one untouched by love rebuked me for my passion;

Yet had he suffered love, he would not have rebuked me.

كلما كلف قلبي سلوة

زاد قلبي في هواه كلفا

Whenever my heart was urged to forget,

My heart grew more consumed by its love.

ما على ذي صبوة تيمه

بالحمى تذكار عهد سلفا

What blame is there on a yearning lover, enslaved

At the protected grounds by memory of bygone days?

من صبا نجد شممنا نفحة

عرف ظمياء بها قد عرفا

From Najd's east wind we smelled a fragrant waft,

Through which Ẓamyāʾ's fragrance was recognized.

وعلى الجرعاء شمنا ومضة

تمتري منا الجفون الذرفا

And over al-Jarʿāʾ we watched a flash,

Milking tears from our weeping eyelids.

ومهاة غادرت الحاظها

مهجة الصب المعنى دنفا

And an oryx doe whose glances have left

The ardent, tormented lover's heart sick with love.

ان مشت هزت قناة صعدة

أورنت سلت حساما مرهفا

If she walks, she sways a straight, upright spear-shaft;

Or if she gazes, she unsheathes a keen-edged sword.

ما ثناها السكر لكن الصبا

من تعيم قد سقاها قرقفا

It was not drunkenness that swayed her, but youth,

Which has given her potent wine drawn from bliss.

صنعة الحسن بها قد اغربت

فزهت حسناً وتاهت ترفا

Beauty's craft has worked wonders in her,

So she glories in beauty and struts in luxury.