1. قلبي يشوقُ إلى العذيب وبارق

    من ثغره وإلى النّقا والبان

    My heart yearns for al-ʿUdhayb and Bāriq

    In his mouth, and for the sand dune and the bān tree.

  2. يمسي ويُصبحُ في لهيب صبابة

    فكأنّهُ من عابد الأوثان

    It passes evening and morning in a blaze of longing,

    As though it were among the worshippers of idols.

  3. يا ليت شعري هل لناري مُطفئٌ

    يوما وهل لعنان دمعي ثان

    Would that I knew: is there someone to quench my fire

    Someday—and is there one to rein in my tears?

  4. فكأنّ ليلي في امتداد مقامه

    صدرُ ابن خُوجة عسكر الدّيوان

    So my night, in its prolonged lingering, seems like

    The chest of Ibn Khūja ʿAskar al-Dīwān.

  5. فردٌ جليلُ القدر ما بين الورى

    أنست جلالة حضرة العثماني

    A peerless man of lofty standing among mortals,

    Making one forget the grandeur of al-ʿUthmānī’s presence.

  6. هو مفرد في الحسن إلا أنّه

    لم يختلف في فرده إثنان

    He is unique in beauty, yet

    No two have disagreed about his uniqueness.

  7. هو من بني التّرك الّذين توشّحوا

    بالحسن إلا أنّه خاقاني

    He is among the sons of the Turks who draped themselves

    In beauty, yet he is my khāqān.

  8. أمنتُ فيه بمعجزات جماله

    وعلمتُ كيف قواعدُ الإيمان

    I trusted in him through the miracles of his beauty,

    And learned what the foundations of faith are.

  9. يا من إذا ما لاح بارقُ ثغره

    هطلت عليه سحائبُ الأجفان

    O you, whenever the lightning of your mouth flashes,

    The clouds of eyelids pour down upon you.

  10. وإذا انثنى كالبان صحتُ ورُبّما

    صاح الغرابُ على قضيب البان

    And when he sways like the bān tree, I cry out—and often

    Al-Ghurāb, the crow, has cried upon a bān bough.

  11. وزنُوا جمالك في الورى فرجحت

    والمعهودُ عدلُ الشّمس في الميزان

    They weighed your beauty among mortals, and you outweighed them,

    Though the sun is customarily balanced in the Scales.