1. يا ليلةً جمعتْنا بعد طولِ نوًى

    ذكراكِ هاجتْ لنا الأشجانَ ألوانا

    O night that brought us together after long separation,

    Your memory stirred in us sorrows of many hues.

  2. ذكرتُ ما كان من عرس جلوتِ بهِ

    عليّ أكرمَ خلقِ اللهِ إنسانا

    I recalled the wedding at which you unveiled

    Before me the noblest human being in God's creation.

  3. بيضاءُ هيفاء تحكي الصبحَ مُؤتلقاً

    والروضَ متَّسِقاً، والبانَ ريّانا

    Fair and slender-waisted, she resembled the radiant dawn,

    And the harmonious garden, and the well-watered bān tree.

  4. بتْنا تُضيء ظلامَ الليل بسمتُنا

    وتستثير شجونَ الليل نجوانا

    We spent the night, our smile lighting the night's darkness,

    And our intimate whispers stirring the night's sorrows.

  5. قالتْ وقلتُ، فلم تفرغ مقالتُنا

    إلى الصباح، ولم تهدأ شكاوانا

    She spoke and I spoke; our conversation did not end

    Until morning, nor did our complaints grow quiet.

  6. وحولَنا الليلُ يطوي في غلائلهِ

    وتحت أعطافِه نشوى ونشوانا

    And around us, night enfolded within its robes

    And beneath its folds a woman and a man, both enraptured.

  7. فما رأى قبلَنا إلفين قد فَنِيا

    وَجْداً، وذابا تباريحاً وتَحنانا

    For never before us had it seen two lovers consumed

    By passion, and melted by love's torments and tenderness.

  8. نكاد من بهجة اللقيا وروعتها

    نرى الدُّنا أيكةً، والدهرَ بُستانا

    From the joy and wonder of our meeting, we could almost

    See the world as a grove, and time as a garden.

  9. ونحسبُ الكونَ عشَّ اثنين يجمعنا

    والماءَ صهباءَ، والأنسامَ ألحانا

    And we imagined the universe a nest for two that held us,

    And water amber wine, and the breezes melodies,

  10. والعمرَ وصلاً، وآمالاً مُذلَّلةً

    والغيبَ مُؤتلقَ الآفاقِ مُزدانا

    And life togetherness, and hopes made easy to attain,

    And the unseen future adorned, its horizons aglow.

  11. لم نعتنق وذهولُ العرسِ يغمرنا

    وكم تَعانقَ روحانا وقلبانا

    We did not embrace, as the wedding's daze engulfed us,

    Yet how often our two souls and our two hearts embraced!

  12. ثم انثنينا وما زال الغليلُ لظًى

    والوجدُ مُحتدِماً، والشوقُ ظمآنا

    Then we turned away, our yearning still a blaze,

    And passion still raging, and longing still athirst.

  13. يا ليلةً شبَّتِ الذكرى بعودتها

    في دورة العام، ماذا هجتِ لي الآنا!؟

    O night, whose return set remembrance aflame

    In the year's cycle—what have you stirred in me now?!

  14. قد كنتِ في ما مضى أُنساً نطيب بهِ

    نفساً، فأمسيتِ أوصاباً وأشجانا

    Once you were solace that gladdened us

    In spirit; now you have become afflictions and sorrows.

  15. أضنيتِ أسوانَ ما ترقا مدامعُهُ

    وهجتِ فوق حشايا السُّهد حيرانا

    You have worn down a grieving man whose tears never cease,

    And stirred a bewildered man upon sleeplessness's bedding.

  16. يبيت يُودع سمعَ الليل عاطفةً

    ضاق النهارُ بها سِتراً وكتمانا

    He spends the night confiding a feeling to night's ear,

    Too vast for day to keep veiled and concealed.

  17. ويُرسل الشجوَ في سِرّ الدجى حُرَقاً

    لو الدجى قُدَّ من صخر إذاً لانا

    And sends his grief into the dark's secrecy as burning pangs—

    Were the darkness hewn from stone, it would soften—

  18. وأدمعاً من حنايا القلبِ ساكبةً

    قد يدمع القلب دون العينِ أحيانا

    And tears streaming from the heart's innermost folds:

    Sometimes the heart weeps, though the eye does not.