1. وغَزالَةٍ غازَلْتُها

    في المَقْسِ من أولادِ حامِ

    And a gazelle I flirted with,

    in al-Maqs, one of Ham’s descendants.

  2. نظرَتْ بعَيْنَيْ ظَبيَةٍ

    ونظْرتُ مِن عَيْنَي قَطامِ

    She looked with a doe’s eyes,

    and I looked through a hawk’s eyes.

  3. وتبسَّمَتْ وكأنَّها

    بَرْقٌ تألَّقَ في غَمامِ

    And she smiled, as though she were

    a flash of lightning gleaming in clouds.

  4. ثمَّ انثَنَتْ مِثلَ المَها

    وتبِعْتُها رَتْكَ النَّعامِ

    Then she turned away like an oryx,

    and I followed her at an ostrich’s trot,

  5. حتى دخَلْنا بيتَها

    فحَصلْتُ في البَيتِ الحَرامِ

    until we entered her house,

    so I found myself in the “Sacred House.”

  6. فجعَلْتُ أفتحُ ميمَها

    لّما جثَوْتُ لَها بلامي

    So I began to open her mīm,

    when I knelt before her with my lām.

  7. وكأنَّني إذا ذاكَ أو

    لَجْتُ الضِّياءَ على الظَّلامِ

    And it was as though, at that moment, I had

    thrust light into darkness.

  8. ضِدّانِ لم يجمَعْهُما

    إلاّ المحبَّةُ للحَرامِ

    Two opposites that nothing united

    except love of the forbidden.

  9. كانَتْ لَمري عاهةً

    جمعَتْ غُراباً مع حَمامِ

    It was, by my life, an affliction

    that united a raven with a dove.