1. أَلا يا نَسيم الصُبح كَرر رِسالة

    لِسعدى وَبَلغ يا نَسيم سَلامها

    Ah, O breeze of dawn, repeat a message

    To Sa'da, and convey, O breeze, her greeting.

  2. تَجدها وَقَد أَضنى الرقاد جُفونها

    وَأغمد في تلكَ العُيون حسامها

    You will find her, sleep having wearied her eyelids

    And sheathed their sword within those eyes.

  3. وَإِن جئتها فاعبث بعقرب صدغها

    وَقَبل لَنا قَبل السلام لِثامها

    And if you reach her, toy with the scorpion-curl at her temple.

    And kiss her veil for us before the greeting.

  4. وَمر عَلى تلكَ الثَنايا فَإِن لي

    ثَلاثينَ يَوماً ما شَربت مدامها

    And pass over those front teeth, for I have gone

    Thirty days without drinking their wine.

  5. وَشم لَنا وَرد الخُدود فَطالَما

    شَمَمت بِأَنفي رندها وَبشامها

    And smell for us the roses of her cheeks, for often

    I have smelled their laurel and balsam with my nose.

  6. وَقُل إنَّني خَلفت خَلفي متيماً

    بِأَحشائه الأَشواق توري ضرامها

    And say: I left behind me a man enslaved by love,

    In whose entrails longings kindle their blaze.

  7. يَقول وَقَد أَرخى الظَلام ستوره

    وَشَد بِأَوتاد النُجوم خطامها

    He says, when darkness has lowered its curtains

    And tied its halter to the pegs of the stars:

  8. تَنامين وَالأَجفان مني قَريحة

    تَصب عَلى سَفح الخُدود سجامها

    You sleep, while my eyelids are sore,

    Pouring their streaming tears down the slopes of my cheeks.

  9. وَلي مُهجة حر البعاد أَثابَها

    وَضاعف شَوقي ضعفها وَسقامها

    And mine is a heart rewarded by separation's heat,

    And my longing has doubled its weakness and sickness.

  10. ذكرتك يا سعدى وَلِلقَلب لَوعة

    إِذا رُمت أخفيها أَثارَت غَرامَها

    I remembered you, O Sa'da, with anguish in my heart;

    Whenever I sought to hide it, it stirred up its passion.

  11. وَعبرة مُشتاق أَضر بِهِ النَوى

    فَهَل سَلسَبيل الثَغر يَطفي أوامها

    And a tear of a yearning lover whom separation has harmed—

    Will the sweet spring of her mouth quench its burning thirst?

  12. أَما وَالَّذي قَد قَدر البُعد بَيننا

    وَباعد عَني ربعها وَخيامها

    Indeed, by Him who decreed the distance between us

    And set her dwelling and tents far from me,

  13. لَفي طَي أَحشائي رَسيس محبة

    بَرت يا لقَومي لحمها وَعِظامها

    Surely in the folds of my entrails lies a lingering trace of love

    That has wasted—O my people!—their flesh and bones.

  14. مَتى نَلتَقي لَيلاً وَتبرا جراحنا

    وَنفتح عَن تلكَ الحُدود كمامها

    When shall we meet at night, and our wounds heal,

    And draw back the coverings from those edges,

  15. وَأشرب مِن ذاكَ الرضاب وَأشتَفي

    بِضَمة عطفيها وَأثني قوامها

    And I drink of that nectar and find healing

    By clasping her flanks, and bend her form,

  16. وَأَرنو إِلى ذاكَ المُحيا وَحسنه

    وَأسمع في ضمن العِتاب كَلامَها

    And gaze at that face and its beauty,

    And hear her words amid reproach?

  17. رَعى اللَه روحي كَيف راحَت حَياتها

    وَقَد شَرِبَت قَبل الحمام حمامها

    May God guard my soul—how its life has fled,

    Having drunk its death before death itself!