ومحتجب كم دونه من أسنة

ومحتجب كم دونه من أسنة

وكم ذقت من طعن عليه وأهوال

وكم ذقت من طعن عليه وأهوال

And a veiled one—how many spearheads bar the way to him!

And concealed, how much below it of gray hair

And how many thrusts and terrors I have tasted for his sake!

And how much did I taste of blames upon it and horrors

تجرعت طعم الصاب من دون رشفه

تجرعت طعم الصاب من دون رشفه

وما نالني منه سوى رقة الحال

وما نالني منه سوى رقة الحال

I swallowed the taste of bitter sap before ever sipping from him,

I sipped the taste of patience without quenching my thirst

and gained from him nothing but straitened circumstances.

And nothing of it reached me except the softness of the state

فمن لي اذا غسلت مرشفه وقد

فمن لي اذا غسلت مرشفه وقد

تطاول نحوي كل اسمر عسال

تطاول نحوي كل اسمر عسال

Who, then, will help me when I bathe his lips, while

So who do I have when I washed its pot and he

every dark, quivering spear has reared toward me?

Reached out to me, every brown honey bee

جنين له ام ولكن حلية

جنين له ام ولكن حلية

به حملت في العصر والزمن الخالي

به حملت في العصر والزمن الخالي

A fetus with a mother—yet an ornament

A fetus that has a mother, but an ornament

has carried him in this age and in ages past.

She carried in barren times and eras

رقيق الحواشي كامل الطرف قد اتى

رقيق الحواشي كامل الطرف قد اتى

به كم تحلت ذات قرط وخلخال

به كم تحلت ذات قرط وخلخال

Delicate of outline, perfect of eye, he has come—

Delicate edges, perfect silhouette, he came

how many a wearer of earrings and anklets has adorned herself with him!

With so much adorned with earrings and anklets

بتصحيفه اجفان عيني تكحلت

بتصحيفه اجفان عيني تكحلت

وذلك لما ان بعدت باميال

وذلك لما ان بعدت باميال

By mispointing his name, my eyelids were lined with kohl,

With his misspelling the kohl of my eyes was applied

and that was when I had gone miles away.

And that is because he is far in miles

لرقته قطر النباتي ينتمي

لرقته قطر النباتي ينتمي

لما جاء فيه من ضروب وامثال

لما جاء فيه من ضروب وامثال

Al-Nabati’s dew is akin to his delicacy,

For his gentleness, he belongs to the dripping of vegetation

for the forms and proverbs found in him.

For what came in it from types and parables

ومن شغف قال الحلاوي ليتني

ومن شغف قال الحلاوي ليتني

نسيت نسيبي في هواه واغزال

نسيت نسيبي في هواه واغزال

And al-Halawi said in passionate longing: “Would that I

And from passion Al-Halawi said I wish

had forgotten my love-verses and ghazals in loving him!”

I forgot my relative in his love and flirtation

وان هووا في منك في الحال مرسلا

وان هووا في منك في الحال مرسلا

غنيت به عن كل راح وجريال

غنيت به عن كل راح وجريال

And if [it comes] from you, sent forth at once [wording uncertain],

And if he loved in you now sent

with him I would dispense with all wine and crimson vintage.

I would have been needless for any rest and saddle

فيا مدعي الالغاز دونك حله

فيا مدعي الالغاز دونك حله

فمنه لك التعقيد يظهر في الحال

فمنه لك التعقيد يظهر في الحال

So, you who claim mastery of riddles, undertake its solution;

So O claimant of riddles below you is its solution

for its intricacy will at once become clear to you.

From it for you is the complication appears now

فلا زلت للالغاز توضح رمزها

فلا زلت للالغاز توضح رمزها

وغامضها تبديه من غير اشكال

وغامضها تبديه من غير اشكال

So may you never cease to elucidate the code of riddles,

For you still clarify the symbols of riddles

and reveal their obscurities without ambiguity.

And its ambiguous you show without problems

ولا زلت ترقى في سما المجد والعلا

ولا زلت ترقى في سما المجد والعلا

وتحيى عزيزا في سعود واقبال

وتحيى عزيزا في سعود واقبال

And may you ever rise in the heavens of glory and eminence,

And you still rise to the sky of glory and sublimity

and live honored amid good fortune and prosperity.

And you live honorable in prosperity and ascent