1. كَتَبْتُ لها أَنَّني عاشِقٌ

    عَلى مُهْرَقِ الكَتْمِ بالناظِرِ

    I wrote to her that I was in love,

    On the parchment of secrecy, with my gaze.

  2. فَرَدَّتْ عليَّ جَوابَ الهَوى

    بِأَحْوَر في مائِهِ حائِرِ

    So she answered me with love’s reply,

    With a dark-pupilled eye, bewildered in its own liquid sheen.

  3. مُنَعَّمةٌ نَطَقَتْ بالجُفُون

    فدَلَّتْ على دِقَّة الخاطِرِ

    A pampered woman spoke through her eyelids,

    And thus revealed the subtlety of her mind.

  4. كأَنَّ فؤادِي إِذا أَعْرَضَتْ

    تَعَلَّقَ في مخْلَبَيْ طائِرِ

    It is as though my heart, whenever she turns away,

    Were caught in the two talons of a bird.