1. بأبي مَن قَلْبُه حجَرُ

    وبه من ناظري أثَرُ

    May my father be ransom for him whose heart is stone,

    and on whom my gaze has left a mark.

  2. رَشَأٌ بالغُنْجِ مكتَحِلٌ

    وبضَوءِ الصُّبحِ مُعْتَجِرُ

    A young gazelle with coquetry for kohl,

    and dawn's light for a turban,

  3. وبثوب الحُسنِ مُشتمِلٌ

    وبِحقْف الرمل مُتَّزِرُ

    and wrapped in the robe of beauty,

    and girded with a curving dune of sand.

  4. رِدْفُه شِرْحٌ وقامتُه

    وسَط والخَصر مُختَصَرُ

    His hips are ample, and his stature

    medium, and his waist slender.

  5. خَضَعَتْ شَمْسُ النهار له

    وتلاشى عنده القمرُ

    The sun of day bowed before him,

    and the moon faded away in his presence.

  6. ما رأينا قبله بَشَرَاً

    تاه في أوصافه البشَرُ

    Never before him had we seen a mortal

    whose qualities left mankind bewildered.

  7. جائرُ الألْحاظ كلُّ دمٍ

    سَفَكَتْه عندها هَدَرُ

    His glances are unjust: every drop of blood

    they shed is, in their reckoning, forfeit.

  8. شَهَرَتْ أسيافَها وَمَضَتْ

    فهي لا تُبقي ولا تَذَرُ

    They unsheathed their swords and advanced,

    so they spare nothing and leave nothing.

  9. جنَّةُ الفِرْدوس طَلْعَتُه

    والقِلا مِن دونها سَقَرُ

    His countenance is the garden of Firdaws,

    and aversion, barring access to it, is Saqar.

  10. ومتى أُصغي إلى عَذَلٍ

    فيه وهو السمعُ والبصرُ

    And when would I listen to reproach

    concerning him, when he is my hearing and my sight?