بأبي غزال غازلته مقلتي

بين العُذيب وبين شطّي بارق

May my father be ransom for a gazelle whom my eye courted,

Between al-ʿUdhayb and the two banks of Bāriq.

وسألت منه زيارة تشفي الجوى

فأجابني منها بوعد صادق

And I asked him for a visit to heal love’s anguish;

So he answered me with a sincere promise of one.

بتنا ونحن من الدّجى في لجّة

ومن النجوم الزّهر تحت سرادق

We spent the night in a deep sea of darkness,

And beneath a canopy of radiant stars.

عاطيته والليل يسحب ذيله

صهباء كالمسك الفتيق لناشق

I offered him, while night dragged its train,

Tawny wine, like unsealed musk to one who breathes it in.

وضممته ضمّ الكمي لسيفه

وذؤابتاه حمائل في عاتقي

And I clasped him as an armored warrior clasps his sword,

And his two tresses were sword-belts upon my shoulder.

حتى إذا أخذت به سنة الكرى

زحزحته عني وكان معانقي

Until, when the drowsiness of sleep took hold of him,

I shifted him away from me, though he was embracing me.

أبعدته عن أضلع تشتاقه

كيلا ينام على وساد خافق

I drew him away from ribs that longed for him,

Lest he sleep upon a throbbing pillow.

لما رأيت الليل آخر عهده

قد شاب في لمم له ومفارق

When I saw that the night, at the end of its span,

Had grown gray in its locks and hair-partings,

ودّعت من أهوى وقلت تأسفاً

أعزز عليّ بأن أراك مفارقي

I bade farewell to the one I love and said regretfully:

How grievous it is to me to see you parting from me!