جفن العليل غدا بالدمع في غلس

والجسم ذاب لما قد حل في نفس

The sufferer's eyelid grew tearful in the predawn gloom.

And the body wasted away from what had settled in the soul.

رق النسيم وراق القلب في لجج

هذا الكئيب وهذا الطرف في قمس

The breeze grew gentle, and the heart grew serene amid the surging depths.

This sorrowful one, and this eye, are submerged.

رونقه

مستهلك لنسيم الورد والزهر

Its luster.

Consumed by the breeze of roses and blossoms.

أهل الهوى لميسلو بها أبدا

بشجو مقلتهم بالدمع منهمر

The people of love have never found solace in her.

With grief, their eye overflows with tears.

كم عذبت جنني بالتيه والدلال

وفتت كبدي بالنيل والقجر

How often you tormented me—maddened me—with haughtiness and coquetry!

And you shattered my liver with attainment and [unclear].

لكلام العشق أجمعه

الرفق شيمتكم كالحلم كالسلس

For all the speech of love.

Gentleness is your nature, like forbearance, like suppleness.

أسهم مزقني فتنتني

والنبل أمحقني من شدة الهوس

Arrows tore me apart; you bewitched me.

And the arrows annihilated me through the force of frenzy.

عج بالحمى بارقا للحي والوطن

وسائلا عن فؤادي تبلغ سكن

Turn toward the sanctuary, flashing for the encampment and homeland.

And, asking after my heart, you will reach a dwelling.

نشدتك الله إن جزت الحمى سالما

بلغ سلام صريع في الهوى شجن

I adjure you by God: if you pass safely through the sanctuary,

Convey the greeting of one struck down by love, sorrowful.

وقل تركت قتيلا في سبيلكم

بالوصل منتعش للجسم والجنن

And say: I left one slain in your cause,

Revived through union—for the body and the shields.

حبي مليح ونار الشوق أقلقني

بالله يا مالكي رفقا بذي فلس

My beloved is lovely, and the fire of yearning has troubled me.

By God, my master, be gentle with one who has a mere copper coin.

البين أزعجني والوجد أحرقني

والدمع منطفىء من شدة القبس

Separation has shaken me, and passion has burned me.

And tears are extinguished by the intensity of the blaze.

ما كنت تعلم ما ألقاه من جلد

كم ذا تنام وكم أسهرت ذا رمد

You did not know the flogging I endure.

How long will you sleep, and how often have you kept one with sore eyes awake?

يا من جفى ووفى لغير موعده

يا من رماني بسهم رائد كبد

O you who shunned me and kept a tryst other than your own,

O you who struck me with an arrow seeking the liver,

هذا المحب لقد شاعت صبابته

واستوقف العيس لا يحدو بها

This lover—his longing has become widely known.

And he halted the pale camels, not driving them onward with song.

كتبت والدمع يمحو ما خطت يدي

حتى بكت لأقلامه على الطرس

I wrote, while tears erased what my hand had traced,

Until it wept for his pens upon the parchment.

ماء العيون غدا من جفني منهمر

فالسيل من مقام والديم في غمس

The water of my eyes came pouring from my eyelid.

So the torrent comes from a station, and the steady rains are submerged.

يا سائق الظمى في البيداء في حلل

بالله لذي طلل

O driver of the thirsty in the wilderness, in robes,

By God, for one with a ruined campsite...

وعرجا في به

شرخ الشبيبة في أكناف ذي نهل

And you two, turn aside in... by it...

The prime of youth in the environs of Dhu Nahal.

وناديا الباب منكسر

لعل مسقمنا يدنو وذي أمل

And you two, call at the door, brokenhearted.

Perhaps the one who sickens us will draw near—and one with hope...

لم يبق لي أثر كلا ولا رمق

فالموت أقرب لي من نفسي الهجس

No trace of me remains—no, nor a flicker of life.

Death is nearer to me than my whispering soul.

نار الغرام غدت في القلب في سقر

فمحنتي عظمت من أجل ذا بأس

The fire of passion is now in the heart, in Saqar.

So my ordeal has grown great because of this affliction.

نفى لذيذ الكرى عن مقلتي رغدا

من طول

It drove sweet, restful sleep from my eye.

From the length of...

أضنى فؤادي واستوهى قوى جلدي

أقوى ملاعب بين العقب والعلم

It wasted my heart and sapped the strength of my endurance.

The playgrounds between al-Aqab and al-Alam lay deserted.

لأنها الراح من راح لطيف جوى

كالأرض إذ شرقت بالبيت والحرم

For she is wine from the hands of one tender with love's anguish.

Like the earth when it grew radiant with the House and the Sanctuary.

ها العبد عبدكم فارفق بصبكم

فمن درى غرمي يا من لدى الشرس

Behold the servant—your servant; be gentle with your lovesick one.

Who, then, knows my passion, O you beside the harsh one?

أحيى الفؤاد نسيم من ربا ومضى

حتى منحت أناجيه بلا همس

A breeze from the hills revived the heart and passed on.

Until I was granted this: to commune with it without a whisper.

يا راحلين وقلبي إثر ظعنهم

فيا زمان الصبا حييت من بلح

O departing ones—and my heart follows their departure.

So, O season of youth, may you be greeted—from unripe dates...

يا بارقا لصدى ألأحباب واكبدي

عرج أخي حمى ليلى ومنعرج

O flashing lightning, for the echo of loved ones—alas, my liver!

Turn aside, my brother, to Layla's sanctuary and a bend in the path.

فكلما لاح برق القدر مبتسما

يحن قلب المعنى ما غنى هزج

So whenever the lightning of destiny appears, smiling,

The afflicted lover's heart yearns whenever a singer sings.

يا منية القلب يا قطب الوجود أغث

يا مرسلا للورى والجن والفرس

O heart's desire, O axis of existence, come to my aid!

O you sent to humankind, the jinn, and the Persians!