جارت على مهجتي ظلما وما عدلت

فليت شعري إلى من في الهوى عدلت

She wronged my soul unjustly and showed no justice.

Would that I knew to whom she turned in love.

هيفاء كم قتلت بالهجر من كبد

وكم قلوب شوت يوم النوى وقلت

Slender-waisted, how many a liver she has slain by forsaking!

And how many hearts she roasted and fried on the day of separation!

وللّه لست بسال عن محبتها

ولو اذا بت فؤادي بالجوى وسلت

By God, I have not ceased loving her,

Even if she melted my heart with anguish and forgot me.

بهجرها ارخصت قتلي ووجنتها

تسعرت نارها في مهجتي وغلت

By forsaking me she cheapened my death; as for her cheek,

Its fire blazed and seethed within my soul.

ريانة العطف قد مال الدلال بها

كأن اعطافها بالسكر قد ثملت

Lush of flank, coquetry has made her sway,

As though her curves had reeled in drunkenness.

تريك بدرا اذا ماست على غصن

فاجعب لها قامة بدر الدجا حملت

She shows you a full moon when she sways upon a bough;

So marvel at her stature, bearing the full moon of night.

عنها الغصون حديث الميل ترفعه

إلى القوام وعنه صح ما نقلت

From her the boughs transmit the account of swaying,

Tracing it to her figure—and what they report from it has proved sound.

ما الظبي ان نفرت ما الغصن ان خطرت

ما الصبح ان سفرت ما الليل ان سدلت

What is the gazelle when she shies? What is the bough when she walks swaying?

What is dawn when she unveils? What is night when she lets her hair fall?

للبدر لو ظهرت لم يبد من خجل

والشمس ان ابصرتها في الضحى افلت

Were she to appear before the full moon, it would not show itself for shame.

And if the sun saw her at forenoon, it would set.

والنرجس الغض عنها غض ناظره

من الحيا وخدود الورد قد خجلت

And the tender narcissus averted its gaze from her,

Out of modesty; the cheeks of roses blushed too.

تصدرت لخلاقي وهي فارغة

وبالخلاف لقلبي في الهوى شغلت

She took the lead in wearing me out, though she was idle,

And in love she busied herself with opposing my heart.

تقلدت ما انتضته من لواحظها

ولي بما اهتز من اعطافها اعتقلت

She girded herself with what she unsheathed from her glances,

And against me she couched what swayed of her form.

وغادرتني قتيلا في محبتها

ولست ادري بماذا في الهوى قتلت

And she left me slain in my love for her,

And I do not know by what I was slain in love.

مليكة بكنوز الحسن مثرية

لكن بدينار ذاك الخد قد بخلت

A queen rich in the treasures of beauty,

But she has been miserly with the dinar of that cheek.

سحارة الجفن بالالباب عابثة

كأن بالسحر عينيها قد اكتحلت

With bewitching eyelids, she toys with minds,

As though she had used magic as kohl for her eyes.

لا واخذ الله هاتيك العيون بما

اسيافها صنعت فينا وما فعلت

May God not hold those eyes to account for what

Their swords have wrought upon us, and what they have done.

عجبت كيف غدت تدعى لواحظها

كليلة وهي في اجفانها قتلت

I marveled at how her glances came to be called

Blunt, though they killed while still within her eyelids.

حاكت بجسمي ثياب السقم مقلتها

اما ترى كيف لي اجفانها غزلت

Her eye wove garments of sickness upon my body;

Do you not see how her eyelids spun for me?