ظباء الحمى حين تعتادها

تجيد ولوعك أجيادها

The gazelles of the preserve, when you visit them—

their necks bring your passion to perfection.

وكم عادلَ الوجد في غادةٍ

متى ألفتْ فالقلى عادها

And how often has passion wavered in a maiden:

whenever she grows fond, aversion returns to her.

قستْ عن سؤالك منها القلوب

ورقَّت على اللحظ أجسادها

The hearts within them have hardened against your pleas,

yet their bodies grow tender beneath the gaze.

منازلُ تنبيك عن بيضهنَّ

سود العيون وآسادها

Dwellings that tell you of their fair women—

dark-eyed—and of their lions.

سيوف حمتْ أن تنال الجفونُ

أتحمي الصوارم أغمادها

Swords have kept the eyelids beyond reach—

do keen blades guard their own sheaths?

نأتْ عنك جملٌ وإجمالها

وبانتْ سعادٌ وإسعادها

Juml has gone far from you, and her kindness with her;

and Su'ad has departed, with the happiness she gave.

وأودعك السقم يوم الوداع

لدنُ المعاطف ميَّادها

And on the day of parting, illness was left in you

by one supple of limb, swaying in his gait.

وبي قمرٌ قامرٌ للقلوب

مليكٌ أطاعتهُ أجنادها

And I am smitten with a moon, a gambler for hearts,

a king whom their armies have obeyed.

حبائلُ أجفانهِ مولعٌ

بصيد المحبين صيَّاداها

The snares of his eyelids: eager

to hunt lovers are their two hunters.

من السُّمر أخبار عشَّاقه

إليه يعنعن إسنادها

From the tawny spears come tales of his lovers;

their chain of transmission, link by link, leads back to him.

سل القلبَ عنّي وأشواقهُ

وها مقلتايَ وتسهادها

Ask the heart and its longings about me;

and behold my two eyes and their sleeplessness.

أضلَّ عن الصَّبر ذاك العذارُ

نفساً تعذَّرَ إرشادها

That down along his cheek has led away from patience

a soul that cannot be guided.