أما إنّه لولا الهدى وجنونُه

أما إنّه لولا الهدى وجنونُه

لَما غلِقت يومَ الرهانِ رهُونُهُ

لَما غلِقت يومَ الرهانِ رهُونُهُ

Indeed, were it not for guidance and its madness,

Had it not been for his passion and his madness,

his pledges would not have been forfeited on the day of the wager.

His pledges would not have been forfeited on the day of the wager.

له اللهُ أمّا دمعُه فيُذيلُهُ

له اللهُ أمّا دمعُه فيُذيلُهُ

غراما وأمّا وجدهُ فيَصُونُهُ

غراما وأمّا وجدهُ فيَصُونُهُ

God help him! As for his tears, he lets them flow

May God grant him forgiveness! As for his tears, they betray

in passion; but his longing he guards.

His love, and as for his anguish, it hides it.

وإن هو أخفى وجدَهُ وشُؤونَهُ

وإن هو أخفى وجدَهُ وشُؤونَهُ

حِذاراً أذاعتُه ضِرارا شُؤونهُ

حِذاراً أذاعتُه ضِرارا شُؤونهُ

And even if he hides his longing and his affairs,

And if he conceals his anguish and his troubles,

out of caution, his tear ducts spitefully betray him.

It is for fear that spreading it may cause harm.

بنَفسي بَدراً يَفضحُ البدرَ نورهُ

بنَفسي بَدراً يَفضحُ البدرَ نورهُ

وغصنَ قوام يُخجِلُ الغصنَ لِينُهُ

وغصنَ قوام يُخجِلُ الغصنَ لِينُهُ

With my life I would ransom a full moon whose light shames the full moon,

By my life! He is a full moon that outshines the full moon in its brightness,

and a branch-like figure whose suppleness shames the branch.

And a slender branch that shames the pliant branch in its uprightness.

عقاربُ صدغٍ ليس يرقى سليمُها

عقاربُ صدغٍ ليس يرقى سليمُها

ورمحُ قوامٍ لا يَبِلُّ طعينُهُ

ورمحُ قوامٍ لا يَبِلُّ طعينُهُ

His temple-locks are scorpions: no charm can heal one they sting,

The pleiades of his temple cannot be surpassed in their beauty,

and his figure is a spear: one it pierces never recovers.

And the spear of his stature scorns the slander of the critic.