1. وشادنٍ شَفّ جِسمي

    نِفارُهُ وهو آنِس

    And a young gazelle—my body has been worn thin

    by his skittishness, though he is tame.

  2. مِن حُبّهِ ظلَّ عقلي

    مُشرّداً وهو كانس

    Through love of him, my mind has remained

    driven to wander, while he shelters in his lair.

  3. أفادَ جَفني سُهاداً

    مِن جفنهِ المتناعِس

    He gave my eyelid sleeplessness

    from his eyelid that feigns sleep.

  4. أصابَ قلبي بسهمٍ

    مِن لحظهِ وهو حابس

    He struck my heart with an arrow

    from his glance, though he holds back.

  5. لِحاظُهُ ولحاظِي

    فوارسٌ وفرائس

    His glances and my glances

    are horsemen and prey.

  6. بدا فظلَّ هواهُ

    يجلُوهُ مثلَ العرائس

    He appeared, and love for him kept

    unveiling him as brides are unveiled:

  7. وجهاً وقدّاً أحلاَّ

    في القلبِ جذوةَ قابس

    a face and a figure that lodged

    in the heart a fire-borrower's ember—

  8. كالبدرِ والبدرُ زاهٍ

    والغُصنِ والغُصنُ مائس

    like the full moon when the moon shines,

    and a bough when the bough sways;

  9. وطلعةً ثم شعراً

    قد حيّرا كلَّ قائس

    and a countenance, then hair,

    that have bewildered everyone who compares—

  10. كالصُّبحِ والصُّبحُ بادٍ

    واللَّيلِ واللَّيلُ دامِس

    like dawn when dawn breaks,

    and night when night is pitch-dark.

  11. قد صاغهُ الحسنُ صوغاً

    مثلُ الدَّمى في الكنائس

    Beauty has fashioned him in a form

    like the statues in churches,

  12. وخصَّهُ مِن حلاهُ

    بالغالياتِ النفائس

    and favored him, from among its adornments,

    with the costly, precious ones:

  13. ملابسٍ من جمالٍ

    يا حُسنَها مِن ملابس

    garments of beauty—

    oh, how lovely they are, these garments!