نَصَبَتْ حبائلَ حسنها فاصْطَدْنَني

نَصَبَتْ حبائلَ حسنها فاصْطَدْنَني

ثم انتحتْ قلبي بنَبْلِ عذابِها

ثم انتحتْ قلبي بنَبْلِ عذابِها

She set the snares of her beauty, so they caught me.

She set up the snares of her beauty and so ensnared me,

Then she aimed at my heart with the arrows of her torment.

Then pierced my heart with the arrows of her torment.

هل في الشريعة نصبُ صيدٍ حاصلٍ

هل في الشريعة نصبُ صيدٍ حاصلٍ

للنَّبل ترشُقُه يدٌ بِصيابِها

للنَّبل ترشُقُه يدٌ بِصيابِها

Does sacred law permit setting up captured prey

Is there in sacred law the hunting of willing prey

For arrows, a hand pelting it with its unerring shafts?

By arrows unleashed from her hand in volleys?

صدٌّ وهجرانٌ وطولُ تعتُّبٍ

صدٌّ وهجرانٌ وطولُ تعتُّبٍ

وأشدُّ منه ضنُّها بعتابِها

وأشدُّ منه ضنُّها بعتابِها

Rebuff, estrangement, and prolonged reproach;

Estrangement, rejection, reproach prolonged,

And harsher than that, her withholding even her reproach.

And worse than all this, her blame with censure.

ما بالُها سيفاً عليَّ مسلَّطاً

ما بالُها سيفاً عليَّ مسلَّطاً

ولقد أتيتُ محبتي من بابِها

ولقد أتيتُ محبتي من بابِها

Why is she a sword unleashed against me,

What is it to her, a sword unsheathed against me

When I have indeed approached my love through its proper door?

When I approached her with love from her gate?

يا ربِّ إنْ وجبَ العقابُ فوقِّها

يا ربِّ إنْ وجبَ العقابُ فوقِّها

بي من عقابِ ذنوبها وحسابِها

بي من عقابِ ذنوبها وحسابِها

O my Lord, if punishment is due, then shield her

O Lord, if punishment is due, heap it on me,

With me, from punishment for her sins and from her reckoning.

Not her, for the sins she committed or reckoning made.