1. طَيْفُها حينَ طرَقْ

    عاقَني عنهُ الأرقْ

    When her phantom came by night,

    sleeplessness kept me from it.

  2. بتُّ من شوْقي لَها

    بَيْنَ سُهْدٍ وقلَقْ

    I spent the night, longing for her,

    between sleeplessness and unease,

  3. وغرامٍ وضَنىً

    ولهيبٍ وحُرَقْ

    and passion and wasting sickness,

    and flame and burning anguish,

  4. وحديقةٍ بِها

    مُتّعَتْ منّا الحدَقْ

    and a garden by which

    our eyes were delighted.

  5. بنتُ فِكْرٍ جُلِيَتْ

    مِثلما يُجْلى الفَرَقْ

    A daughter of thought was unveiled

    just as dawn is unveiled.

  6. سكّنَتْ قلباً لَها

    طارَ وجْداً وخفَقْ

    She soothed a heart that, for her,

    soared in passion and fluttered.

  7. نقَعَتْ ما كان في

    لاعِجِ الشّوقِ احْتَرَقْ

    She quenched what had, in

    longing’s searing blaze, burned.

  8. أجْمَعَ الحسْنُ على

    أنْ حَوَتْهُ واتّفقْ

    Beauty unanimously agreed

    that she encompassed it, and concurred.

  9. فضَحَتْ نَوْرَ الرُبى

    أخْجَلَتْ نورَ الشّفَقْ

    She put the hills’ blossoms to shame;

    she abashed the light of twilight.

  10. فاحْمِرارُهُ حَياً

    واصْفِرارُه حَنَقْ

    So its redness is bashfulness,

    and its yellowness is rage.

  11. دُرُّها نُضِّدَ منْ

    طِرْسِها فوقَ السّرَقْ

    Her pearls were arrayed from

    her page upon silk.

  12. لفْظُها وُرْقٌ شدَتْ

    بيْنَ هاتيكَ الوَرَقْ

    Her words are gray doves that sang

    among those leaves.

  13. بكَ يا ابْنَ قُطْبةٍ

    لُؤلُؤُ الفضْلِ اتّسَقْ

    Through you, O Ibn Qutba,

    the pearls of excellence were set in order.

  14. أيُّ فرْعٍ منك في

    دوحَةِ المجْدِ بسَقْ

    What a branch of yours, in

    glory’s mighty tree, has grown tall!