كم ثنايا وكم عيونٍ مراضِ

كم ثنايا وكم عيونٍ مراضِ

من أقاحٍ ونَرجسٍ في الرياض

من أقاحٍ ونَرجسٍ في الرياض

How many front teeth, and how many languid eyes

How many twigs and how many eyes ailing,

of daisies and narcissi in the gardens!

Of narcissus and lilies in the gardens.

كم خدودٍ مَصُونةٍ من شقيقٍ

كم خدودٍ مَصُونةٍ من شقيقٍ

لم تُبَذَّلْ للَّثْمِ أو للعِضاض

لم تُبَذَّلْ للَّثْمِ أو للعِضاض

How many guarded cheeks of anemones,

How many cheeks protected from the anemone,

never offered up for kissing or biting!

That were not given to kissing or biting.

اعترضْ باطنَ الشقيقِ ففيه

اعترضْ باطنَ الشقيقِ ففيه

طُرَفٌ ما يملُّها ذو اعتراض

طُرَفٌ ما يملُّها ذو اعتراض

Examine the anemone's interior, for within it are

Cut through the inner anemone, for in it

delights no observer tires of:

Is a look that does not bore of objections.

جُمَمٌ سُرِّحت بلا مُشُطٍ أو

جُمَمٌ سُرِّحت بلا مُشُطٍ أو

طُرَرٌ قُصِّصَتْ بلا مقراض

طُرَرٌ قُصِّصَتْ بلا مقراض

tresses combed without a comb, or

Unkempt locks unleashed without a comb,

forelocks trimmed without shears.

Or braids told without shearing.

حُمْرَةٌ فوق خُضْرة وسواءٌ

حُمْرَةٌ فوق خُضْرة وسواءٌ

بين هذين مُعْلَمٌ ببياض

بين هذين مُعْلَمٌ ببياض

Redness above greenness, and a center

Redness over greenness and equality

between these two, marked with white.

Between the two, made white by whiteness.

ذا خزامى ذا خُرَّمٌ ذاك خير

ذا خزامى ذا خُرَّمٌ ذاك خير

يٌّ قضى لي بِخَيْرِهِ خيرُ قاض

يٌّ قضى لي بِخَيْرِهِ خيرُ قاض

This is lavender, this is khurram, that is wallflower,

The bleary-eyed, the sleepy-eyed, the best

whose goodness the best of judges has decreed for me.

Good brought me the best of judges.

ذا بهارٌ في صُفْرةِ العاشِقِ المَيْ

ذا بهارٌ في صُفْرةِ العاشِقِ المَيْ

تِ بداءِ الصدودِ والإعراض

تِ بداءِ الصدودِ والإعراض

This is bahār, yellow as the lover who died

A springtime in the yellowness of a lover made

of the malady of rejection and aversion.

Ill by the malady of aloofness and refusal.

فاسقنيها كالنارِ فَرْطَ احمرارٍ

فاسقنيها كالنارِ فَرْطَ احمرارٍ

في إِناءٍ كالماءِ فَرْطَ ابيضاض

في إِناءٍ كالماءِ فَرْطَ ابيضاض

So give it to me to drink, like fire in its intense redness,

So give it to me like fire, excessive in redness,

in a vessel like water in its intense whiteness.

In a vessel like water, excessive in whiteness.

جلّنارٌ إِناؤُه جلُّ نسري

جلّنارٌ إِناؤُه جلُّ نسري

نٍ شفاءُ المرضى منَ الأمراض

نٍ شفاءُ المرضى منَ الأمراض

Pomegranate blossom, its vessel a nasrīn rose—

A burning fire its vessel a burning

a cure that rids the sick of their diseases.

Nasrany, the cure of the sick from diseases.