أسُعادُ إنّ كمالَ خَلْقِكِ رَاعَني

أسُعادُ إنّ كمالَ خَلْقِكِ رَاعَني

فرَأيْتُ بدرَ التمّ عَنْهُ ناقِصا

فرَأيْتُ بدرَ التمّ عَنْهُ ناقِصا

O Suʿād, the perfection of your form has awed me,

Suaad, truly your perfection has captivated me

so I found the full moon lacking beside it.

So I saw the full moon as incomplete compared to you

أرُضَابُ فيكِ سلافةٌ نَشَوَاتُهَا

أرُضَابُ فيكِ سلافةٌ نَشَوَاتُهَا

يَمشينَ مِن طَرَبٍ بِقَدّكِ راقصا

يَمشينَ مِن طَرَبٍ بِقَدّكِ راقصا

Is your mouth’s nectar pure wine whose raptures

Your cheeks have a soft glow, their radiance

set your figure moving, dancing with delight?

Walking gracefully with your slender figure

بحرٌ بعيْني لم يزَلْ إنْسانُهَا

بحرٌ بعيْني لم يزَلْ إنْسانُهَا

فيه على دُرِّ المدامعِ غائصا

فيه على دُرِّ المدامعِ غائصا

A sea lies in my eye; its pupil never ceases

An ocean are your eyes that has never ceased

diving within it for the pearls of tears.

Diving into the pearls of tears

كم أحْوَرٍ لمّا رآكِ رأيتُهُ

كم أحْوَرٍ لمّا رآكِ رأيتُهُ

يَرْنُو إلى تَفْتِيرِ طرفِكِ شاخصا

يَرْنُو إلى تَفْتِيرِ طرفِكِ شاخصا

How many a dark-eyed gazelle, on seeing you, have I seen

How many gazelles when they saw you I saw

gazing, transfixed, at the languor of your glance!

Yearning for the fluttering of your eyelids

هل ظنّ ثَغْرَكِ أُقحُواناً ناضراً

هل ظنّ ثَغْرَكِ أُقحُواناً ناضراً

ترعاهُ غزلانُ الفلاةِ خمائصا

ترعاهُ غزلانُ الفلاةِ خمائصا

Did he take your mouth for a fresh daisy

Did he think your lips were red roses

grazed upon by hungry gazelles of the wilderness,

Grazed upon by the deer of the desert plains

حتَّى إذا لاح ابتسامك يجتلي

حتَّى إذا لاح ابتسامك يجتلي

دُرّاً على عينيه ولّى ناكصا

دُرّاً على عينيه ولّى ناكصا

until, when your smile shone forth, he beheld

Until your smile shone radiantly

pearls before his eyes and turned away, retreating?

Scattering pearls on his eyes so he recoiled

لا تقنصيه كما قنصتِ مُتَيَّماً

لا تقنصيه كما قنصتِ مُتَيَّماً

فالرّئْمُ لا يغْدو لرِئمٍ قانِصا

فالرّئْمُ لا يغْدو لرِئمٍ قانِصا

Do not hunt him as you hunted one enslaved by love,

Do not reject him as you rejected the lovelorn one

for no white gazelle becomes the hunter of another.

For grief never becomes a remedy for the grieving