1. البرْقُ لمَّا لَمَعا

    وفي السَّماكِ سَطَعا

    When the lightning flashed

    and blazed in al-Simāk,

  2. حرَّكَ ساكِنَ الهَوَى

    بل الفُؤادِ فَجَعا

    it stirred dormant love—

    nay, it struck the heart with grief.

  3. كأنَّما طالِعُهُ

    ببُرْجِ قلبي طَلَعا

    As though its ascendant

    had risen in my heart's zodiac sign;

  4. أو أنَّه نبْلٌ على

    هامِ فُؤادي وَقَعا

    or as though it were arrows that upon

    the crown of my heart had fallen.

  5. مثَّلَ لي خصْرَ الَّذي

    به أَذوبُ وَلَعا

    It evoked for me the waist of the one

    for whom I melt with passion.

  6. قلبٌ تَلافاهُ النَّوى

    فرَّقَ ما قدْ جَمَعا

    A heart overtaken by separation

    scattered what it had gathered.

  7. للهِ من آهٍ سَرَى

    ودَمْعِ عينٍ دَمَعا

    God, what a sigh stole forth,

    and what tears flowed from an eye!

  8. بذلْتُ روحي لغَزا

    لٍ بفُؤادي رَتَعا

    I offered my soul to a gazelle

    that grazed within my heart.

  9. متَى أرَدْتُ قُربَهُ

    ولوْ مَناماً مَنَعا

    Whenever I desired nearness to him,

    even in a dream, he denied it.

  10. أَنا عُبَيْدُ بابِهِ

    إِنْ ردَّ وُدِّي أَو رَعَى

    I am the humble slave at his door,

    whether he rejects my love or cherishes it.

  11. وليسَ لي وَسيلَةٌ

    لدَى عُلاهُ تُدَّعَى

    And I have no means of approach

    that can be claimed before his exalted rank,

  12. ولا وَظيفَةٌ تُرى

    إِلاَّ الثَّناءَ والدُّعا

    nor any duty to be seen,

    save praise and supplication.