1. كَم في العِذار إِلى العُذّالِ مِن عُذُرٍ

    وَكَم يُحاوِرُهُم عَن لَومي الحَوَرُ

    How many excuses his cheek-down offers the reproachers!

    And how often his dark-eyed beauty debates them over blaming me!

  2. وَكَم أَرى عِندهم مِن حُبّه خَبَراً

    يَرويه عَن مُقلَتيَّ الدَمعُ وَالسَهَرُ

    And how many reports of my love for him I find with them,

    Which tears and sleeplessness relay from my eyes!

  3. يَبغونَ بالعَذل بُرئي مِن عَلاقتِهِ

    وَالقَولُ يُصلِحُ مَن لَم يجرحِ النَظَرُ

    They seek through reproach to cure me of my attachment to him,

    Yet words can heal only those whom a glance has not wounded.

  4. قالوا تَرَكتَ البَوادي قلت جُبُّهُم

    مُحَرَّمٌ حَظَّرَتهُ التُركُ وَالحَضَرُ

    They said, “You have left the desert lands.” I said, “Their well

    Is forbidden; the Turks and townsfolk have barred it.”

  5. ما يَنزِلُ الحَيُّ مِن قَلبي بِمَنزِلَة

    وَلا لآثار ظَعنٍ عنده أَثَرُ

    The tribe occupies no place within my heart,

    Nor do the traces of departure leave any mark there.

  6. وَلا أُعلّقُ مَحبوباً يُساعِدُهُ

    عَلى الصُدود سُتور الخِدرِ وَالخُمرُ

    Nor do I fall in love with a beloved who is aided

    In shunning me by chamber curtains and veils.

  7. أَميلُ عَن حُسنِ وَجهِ الشَمس مُستَتِراً

    إِلى مَحاسنَ يَجلوها ليَ القَمَرُ

    I turn from the beauty of the sun's concealed face

    Toward charms the moon reveals to me.

  8. قَضيبُ بانٍ عَلى أَعلاه بَدرُ دُجىً

    مِن أَينَ لِلبانِ هَذا الزَهرُ وَالثَمَرُ

    A bān-tree bough, with a full moon of night atop it—

    Where did the bān tree get these blossoms and fruit?