غناؤكِ عندي يُميت الطَرَبْ

غناؤكِ عندي يُميت الطَرَبْ

وضربُك بالعود يُحيي الكُرَبْ

وضربُك بالعود يُحيي الكُرَبْ

Your singing, to my ears, kills all delight,

Your singing, to me, kills delight,

Your singing kills my rapture

while your playing on the lute revives all sorrows.

And your playing on the oud revives sorrows.

And your lute playing revives my sorrow

ولم أرَ قبلكِ من قَيْنةٍ

ولم أرَ قبلكِ من قَيْنةٍ

تُغنِّي فأحسَبُها تنتحبْ

تُغنِّي فأحسَبُها تنتحبْ

Never before you have I seen a singing-girl

Before you, I never saw a singing girl

I've never seen anyone like you

sing and thought that she was wailing.

Who sings, only for me to think she is sobbing.

Who sings and I think she weeps

ولا شاهدَ الناسُ أنسيّةً

ولا شاهدَ الناسُ أنسيّةً

سواك لها بَدَنٌ من خشبْ

سواك لها بَدَنٌ من خشبْ

Nor have people ever beheld a human woman

Nor have people seen a human woman

And people have not seen a companion

besides you whose body was made of wood,

Other than you with a body of wood,

Except you who has a body of wood

ووَجْهٌ رقيبٌ على نفسه

ووَجْهٌ رقيبٌ على نفسه

يُنفِّرُ عنه عيونَ الرّيب

يُنفِّرُ عنه عيونَ الرّيب

and whose face itself stands sentinel,

And a face that keeps watch over itself,

And a vigilant face over herself

driving all suspicious glances away.

Driving suspicious eyes away from it.

That disgusts the eyes of suspicion

فكيف تصُدِّين عن عاشق

فكيف تصُدِّين عن عاشق

يَوَدُّكِ لو كان كلباً كَلبْ

يَوَدُّكِ لو كان كلباً كَلبْ

How, then, can you turn away a lover

How, then, do you turn away from a lover

So how can you turn away from a lover

who adores you—were he a dog, he would go rabid?

Who loves you—were he a dog, he would go rabid?

Who wishes if he were a dog, a dog

ولو مازجَ النارَ في حَرِّها

ولو مازجَ النارَ في حَرِّها

حديثُكَ أخْمَد منها اللَّهب

حديثُكَ أخْمَد منها اللَّهب

Even if, at the height of its heat, your speech mingled with fire,

And if the fire, in its heat, were mingled with

And if he joined fire in its heat

it would extinguish the flame within it.

Your talk, its flame would be quenched.

Your talk would extinguish its flames