1. علينا طال يا سعد المطال

    وازعجنا التباعد والمطال

    For us, O Sa'd, the delay has grown long,

    And distance and delay have distressed us.

  2. وريم الرقمتين جفا دلالا

    وقد يضني اخا الوله الدلا

    And the gazelle of al-Raqmatayn grew aloof in coyness,

    And coyness may wear down one distraught with love.

  3. وكم قال العذول لسوء ظن

    بنا يا سعد قولا لا يقال

    And how often the reproacher has spoken, thinking ill

    Of us, O Sa'd—words that should not be said.

  4. اما وجمال من نهوى وهذا

    يمين قد تهز له الجبال

    Indeed, by the beauty of the one we love—and this

    Is an oath at which the mountains may be shaken.

  5. لنا في الحب عهد ليس يرمى

    بنقض والوفاء له رجال

    We have in love a covenant never charged

    With breach, and fidelity has its men.

  6. يمر بنا نسيم الحب ليلا

    فيلفى في جوانحنا اشتعال

    Love's breeze passes by us at night,

    And a blaze is found within our breasts.

  7. نهيم وركبنا يهتز وجدا

    ومعنى الوجد تحمله الجمال

    We are love-stricken, and our caravan sways with ecstasy,

    And the camels carry the essence of ecstasy.

  8. فترتعد الجمال له هياما

    واحدجة الجنائب والرحال

    So the camels tremble in love's rapture at it,

    And the litters of the led mounts, and the saddles.

  9. الا يا سعد دارك رب شوق

    عليه سطا برمشته الغزال

    Ah, O Sa'd, rescue one possessed by longing,

    Whom the gazelle has assailed with a blink of its eye.

  10. وغز نبال تلك العين منه

    بمهجته وتعلم ما النبال

    And the arrows from that eye of his pierce

    His heart—and you know what arrows are.

  11. وقد عجب العذول لما دهاني

    وكم اسد به فتك الجمال

    And the reproacher has marveled at what befell me,

    And how many a lion has beauty slain!

  12. وحرمة ليلة باللطف مرت

    وقد طالت واقصرها الوصال

    By the sanctity of a night that passed with tenderness,

    Though it was long, union made it brief:

  13. يطوف علي من حبي خيال

    فيرقص مهجتي ذاك الخيال

    A vision of my beloved circles about me,

    And that vision makes my heart dance.

  14. فأبكي والدموع لها انحدار

    كحدر السيل ترسله التلال

    So I weep, and the tears stream down,

    Like the rush of a torrent the hills send down.

  15. واشكو لا يرق الي غيري

    ودائي في الهوى الداء العضال

    And I lament; no one else takes pity on me,

    And my sickness in love is a malady beyond cure.

  16. فهل يا سعد تجمعنا الليالي

    ويفصل بعد هذا الانفصال

    So will the nights, O Sa'd, bring us together,

    And the distance of this parting be severed?

  17. عسى المولى يمن يسر لطف

    ويبرز من ضمير الغيب حال

    May the Lord bestow gracious ease,

    And a state emerge from the hidden depths of the unseen.