1. أبا مَنْ فضْلُهُ غِبْطَهْ

    ويا مَنْ هَجْرُهُ سخْطَهْ

    O father of one whose excellence is envied,

    and O you whose estrangement causes anger,

  2. ومَنْ ليس لغيري من

    هُ لو مات ولا نُقْطَه

    and you, of whom no one but me has

    a single drop, even were he to die.

  3. أرى قلبيَ في حُبِّ

    كَ محمولاً على خُطَّه

    I see my heart, in love

    with you, forced into a course.

  4. أراني وقَعَتْ عينا

    ي مِنْ عَيْنِكَ في ورْطَه

    I see that my two eyes have fallen

    through your eye into a predicament.

  5. فكم لي ثَمَّ كم لي في

    بحارِ الحبِّ من غَطَّه

    How often there—how often have I, in

    the seas of love, been plunged!

  6. فيا واسطةَ العقدِ

    إذا ما ضحكتْ وسْطَه

    So O central jewel of the necklace,

    when it smiles in its midst!

  7. ويا درَّةَ تاجِ عيبُها

    في أنها لُقْطَه

    And O pearl of a crown, whose flaw

    is that it is a chance find.

  8. ويا جاريةً تغني

    عن الحنَّاءِ والمشْطَه

    And O maiden who dispenses

    with henna and combing.

  9. ويا رامُشْنةً مَغْمو

    سةً في الطِّيبِ مُنْغَطَّه

    And O songstress, immersed

    in perfume, utterly submerged.

  10. لقد أصبحتَ شِنْفَ الحُسْ

    نِ في العالمِ بل قُرْطَهْ

    Indeed, you have become beauty's upper-ear jewel

    in the world—rather, its earlobe pendant.

  11. فأما الوجهُ فالشمسُ

    منَ الأفلاكِ مُنحَطَّه

    As for the face, it is the sun

    descended from the celestial spheres.

  12. وأما الجسمُ فالعاجُ

    يحاكي خَرْطُهُ خَرْطَه

    And as for the body, ivory—

    its carving imitates the body's contours.

  13. وذاك الجيدُ للظبي

    وذاك الصدرُ للبطَّه

    And that neck belongs to a gazelle,

    and that breast to a duck.

  14. وما المسك سوى تلك ال

    طرار الجعدةِ القَطَّه

    And musk is nothing but those

    curly, tightly coiled forelocks.

  15. وما الكافورُ إلا كفُّ

    كَ الناعمةُ السَّبْطه

    And camphor is nothing but the hand

    of yours, soft and smooth.

  16. تَشَكَّى الوردُ خَدَّيْك

    وشقَّ منهما مِرْطَه

    The rose complained of your cheeks

    and tore its mantle because of them.

  17. وغارَ السِّمط من ثغرٍ

    كَ لما أن رأى سِمْطَه

    And the necklace envied the mouth

    of yours, when it saw its pearl-string.

  18. فما للعاذِل السَّلْطِ

    وللعاذلةِ السَّلْطَه

    What business has the sharp-tongued reprover,

    and the sharp-tongued reproving woman?

  19. نعم ما شأن ذا اللطِّ

    وشأنُ هذه اللَّطه

    Yes, what business has this scoundrel,

    and what business has this scoundrel of a woman?

  20. متى انقدتُّ لمشتطٍّ

    على الصبِّ ومشتطَّه

    When have I yielded to a man cruel

    to a lover, or to a cruel woman?

  21. ألم أُلْقِ عناني حَيْ

    ثُ أَلقى أَصْلَعٌ مُشْطَه

    Have I not cast my reins where

    a bald man cast his comb?

  22. فلن ينحلَّ قلبي أَ

    بداً من هذه الوَرطَه

    My heart will not be freed,

    ever, from this predicament.

  23. ولن أُطلَقَ من حَبسي

    وعيناكَ على الشُّرْطَه

    Nor will I be released from my prison

    while your eyes are in charge of the police.

  24. وهبها ضَبطَةَ الأعمى

    لكلِّ ضبطةٍ ضَبطَه

    And suppose it is a blind man's grip:

    for every grip there is a grip.

  25. تداني الناسُ حتى صا

    رتِ التَّلْعَةُ كالهَبْطَه

    People drew closer, until

    the high ground became like the low ground.

  26. وكافحنا زماناً مش

    بهاً زنبقُهُ نَفْطَه

    And we faced an age in which

    its jasmine oil resembled its naphtha.

  27. فهلاَّ إِذْ حمانا عَوْ

    دَهُ لم يحمنا قِسْطَه

    Why, when it denied us its aloeswood,

    did it not let us have its costus?

  28. فما لي أخبطُ الشَّوْ

    كَ بكفِّي أيَّما خَبْطه

    Why am I thrashing the thorns

    with my palm—what a thrashing!

  29. وتقريظٌ بلا نيلٍ

    مواجيرٌ بلا شرطَه

    And praise without reward

    is cupping vessels without an incision.

  30. فدعْ قوماً يساوون

    إذا ما قُوِّموا مَطَّه

    So leave those people who are worth,

    when appraised, a gob of snot.

  31. ولا تحفلْ بذي عِرْضٍ

    يساوي عِرْضُهُ إِبطَه

    And heed no man whose honor

    is worth his armpit.

  32. وصلْ خُطَّةَ مجدٍ أ

    نا أفدي تلكَ منْ خُطَّه

    And keep to a course of glory—I

    would ransom such a course.

  33. هي الخطَّةُ مذ كانت

    على الإِحسانِ مختطّه

    It is the course that, since it began,

    has been laid out upon benevolence.

  34. شَحطنا عن نظيفٍ شح

    طةً أطْوَلَ ما شَحْطَهْ

    We have gone far from Nazif—a

    separation longer than any other.

  35. هيَ البحرُ الذي ليس

    يُداني سابحٌ شَطَّه

    It is the sea; no

    swimmer can draw near its shore.

  36. فتى لم يُعطَ خلْقٌ مث

    ل ما أُعطيَ لم يُعطَه

    A youth—no creature has been given the like

    of what he was given; none was given it.

  37. سجايا يتشابهن

    كالنُّمرةِ والرُّقْطه

    Qualities that resemble one another,

    like mottling and spotting.

  38. ومَن مولاهُ مولاهُ

    يرى قسط العلى قسطه

    And he whose patron is his patron

    regards glory's share as his own.

  39. فمن عدّ من الأقوا

    م رهطاً عدَّنا رهطه

    So whoever counts among the peoples

    a clan, counts us as his clan.

  40. أما مَدحي سواهُ غَلْ

    طةٌ ناهيكَ منْ غَلْطَه

    As for my praising anyone but him, it is a

    mistake—and what a mistake!

  41. وجهلٌ تركيَ النخْلَ

    ةَ للأثلةِ والخمطه

    And folly is my abandoning the palm

    tree for the tamarisk and bitter-fruited tree.

  42. أَقلني يا فتى السطو

    ةِ والقبضةِ والبَسْطَه

    Pardon me, O youth of might,

    of grasp and openhandedness.

  43. أَقِلْني فَهيَ الزلَّ

    ةُ والعَثرةُ والسَّقطَه

    Pardon me, for it is a

    slip, a stumble, a fall.

  44. دخولي بابَ مَنْ تهوى

    دخولُ قائلٍ حِطَّه

    My entering the door of one you love

    is the entry of one saying, "Forgiveness!"

  45. فلو لم أَخْلُ من مَدْحِ

    كَ لم أخْلُ من الحِنطَه

    For had I not been without praise

    of you, I would not have lacked wheat.