مهلا احادي العيس واتركها لها

فالصوت وجدا للحمى قد هالها

Gently, O driver of the pale camels; leave them to themselves.

For the voice has startled them in their yearning for the sanctuary.

اكلفها الشوق فرق عظمها

وجسمها وهنا حكى خيالها

Longing has made them lovesick, so their bones grew frail;

And their bodies, from weakness, resembled their shadows.

تريد قاعا اشرقت بدورها

والمجد مد ضافيا ظلالها

They seek a plain whose full moons have shone forth,

And glory has spread its ample shadows.

كجنة يفوح طيب روضها

والشهد عطريا حكى زلالها

Like a paradise, its garden's fragrance wafts,

And fragrant honey resembles its limpid water.

لله من تلك الضواحي انها

قد افلتت بمهجتي غزالها

How wondrous, by God, those outskirts! They

Have loosed their gazelle within my heart.

ومهجتي أي والهوى عليلة

بحبه وحالها حلالها

And my heart—yes, by love—is ailing

With love of him; its indweller is its liberator.

دمعي اباح عنوة سر الهوى

وكم دموع في الهوى اسالها

My tears forcibly divulged the secret of love;

And how many tears I have poured out in love!

يا اهل ريم حاجر بحقكم

رفقا بعين سيلها اسالها

O kin of Hajir's gazelle, by your honor,

Be gentle with an eye whose torrent has set it streaming;

ورحمة بمهجة نيرانها

قد اكثرت بلبها اشتعالها

And have mercy on a heart whose fires

Have intensified their blazing in its core.

قيعان ريمكم وعز قدركم

قد رسمت بسوحها اطلالها

The plains of your gazelle—by your exalted rank—

Have traced their ruins in that heart's courtyards.

هيمها الوجد لريمكم فلم

ترفع لغير حسنه آمالها

Longing for your gazelle has maddened it, so it has not

Raised its hopes toward any beauty but his.

وان تنآى معرضا وقاليا

زلزلت الارض بها زلزالها

And if he draws away, turning aside and disdainful,

The earth is shaken through it with its own convulsion.

لله در ظيبة بارضكم

كم حملت اهل الهوى دلالها

How marvelous, by God, the gazelle in your land!

How often she has burdened lovers with her coyness!

على محبيها اسارى عشقها

قد حرمت تكبرا وصالها

To her lovers, captives of passion for her,

She has forbidden, in pride, union with her.

لنا ليال عندها مرت لنا

قصارها قد حسدت طوالها

We had nights with her that went by;

Their short ones envied their long ones.

مضت على السرعة قدما وانقضت

يا ليت لا كنا نرى زوالها

They sped onward and came to an end;

Oh, would that we had not seen their passing!

مع الاحباء اويقات الصفا

ما هام قلب ذي الهوى الالها

With loved ones, brief moments of serenity—

A lover's heart has yearned for nothing but them.