1. الغصنُ من خطرات قدّك يذُبلُ

    والشّمسُ من صفحات خدّك تخجل

    The bough withers at the sway of your figure,

    and the sun blushes before the planes of your cheek.

  2. والدُّرّ مهما افترّ ثغرُك باسما

    أضحت فرائدهُ تُهان وتُبذلُ

    And pearls, whenever your mouth parts in a smile,

    have their choicest pearls scorned and squandered.

  3. وإذا شدوت فكلُّ شاد أخرس

    وإذا رنوت فكلُّ ظبي أحولُ

    And when you sing, every singer is mute,

    and when you gaze, every gazelle is cross-eyed.

  4. ومدامُ ريقك لو أبيح لما غدت

    بين العقول مدامة تتحلّلُ

    And if the wine of your saliva were permitted,

    no other wine would remain to permeate minds.

  5. وسوادُ فرعك لو صبغت به الدّجى

    ما كان صبغُ اللّيل أصلا ينصلُ

    And if you dyed the dark with the blackness of your hair,

    the night's dye would never fade at all.

  6. أو ما ترى ليل المحب بصبغه

    عن حال ذاك الصّبغ لا يتحوّلُ

    Or do you not see the lover's night, with its hue,

    never changing from that shade?

  7. ونُحولُ خصرك لو أعرت سقامهُ

    قمر الدُّجى ما كان يوما يكمل

    And if you lent the wasting sickness of your slender waist

    to the moon of night, it would never wax full.

  8. أوما أعرت الصّبّ منهُ فلم يزل

    دفعا بهاتيك الإعارة ينحلُ

    Or have you not lent the lovelorn some of it? He has never ceased

    wasting away in repayment of that loan.

  9. وسهام لحظك لو رميت بها الجفا

    عن ذي الهوى للصّبّ منهُ المقتلُ

    And if you shot the arrows of your glance to drive estrangement

    from one in love, that would spell death for the lovelorn.

  10. يا من بفرط الشّوق أطلق أدُمعي

    والصّبرُ في سجن الصّدُودُ مسلسل

    O you who, through overwhelming longing, have set my tears free,

    while patience lies chained in the prison of rejection.

  11. وحميتُ طرفي عن وُرُودُ عيونه

    وأبحتها للسّهد منها ينهلُ

    And I barred my eye from drinking at its springs,

    and opened them to sleeplessness, which drinks deep from them.

  12. وتركتُ للأسقام جسمي منزلا

    وحملتُ فوق القلب ما لا يحمل

    And I left my body a dwelling for ailments,

    and heaped upon my heart what cannot be borne.

  13. اردُد على الجفن القريح رُقادهُ

    فلعلّه بخيال طيفك يشملُ

    Restore sleep to my wounded eyelid,

    so perhaps it may be enfolded by the vision of your phantom.

  14. يا من يلوم على هواه وما درى

    أن العواذلُ نصحها لا يُقبلُ

    O you who blame me for loving him, unaware

    that the reproaching women's counsel goes unheeded:

  15. فلئن تكن عن حُسنك أعشى فقو

    لك دُونه بابُ المسامع مُقفلُ

    So if you are blind to your own beauty, then your words—

    the gate of my hearing is locked against them.

  16. كيف السّلوّ عن الحياة وُحبّه

    أشهى إليّ من الحياة وأجملُ

    How can I forget life, when love for him

    is sweeter to me than life, and more beautiful?

  17. اُيلامُ مكلومُ الحشا في هوى رشا

    لجبينه تاج الجمالُ مُكلّلُ

    Can one wounded at heart be blamed for loving a fawn

    whose brow is crowned with beauty's diadem?

  18. قمرٌ يتيهُ على الملاح بحسنه

    وعلى الملوك بدلّه يتدلّلُ

    A moon who, in his beauty, lords it over the fair,

    and with his coy charm plays the darling even before kings.