1. قالوا مُحِبَّك يا حبيبُ صَبَرْ

    ما عِنْدَ قائِلِ ذا الكلامِ خبَرْ

    They said, 'Your lover, O beloved, has become patient.'

    The speaker of these words knows nothing.

  2. لما أَراد بأَن يقولَ صبَا

    عثَر اللَّسانُ بِهِ فقالَ صَبَرْ

    When he meant to say, 'He fell in love,'

    his tongue stumbled over it, so he said, 'He became patient.'

  3. ونَعَمْ صَبَوْتُ إِليه حين وَفَى

    ونعمْ صبرتُ عليه حِينَ غَدَرْ

    And yes, I fell for him when he was faithful,

    and yes, I endured him when he was treacherous.

  4. ولقد أَتى للصَّبِّ عاذِلُهُ

    فنهَى ولكنَّ الغَرَام أَمَرْ

    And indeed, the reproacher came to the lovesick lover;

    he forbade, but passion commanded.

  5. مُرْ يا عذولُ وَمَنْ سِوَايَ بِذَا

    فأَنَا وأَنْتَ كناظِرٍ وسَهَرْ

    Give that command, O reproacher, to someone other than me,

    for I and you are like an eye and sleeplessness.

  6. لا تقْرأَنْ لعذول سَوْرَتِهِ

    فلقد قرأَتَ من الخلافِ سُوَرْ

    Do not recite a reproacher's outburst to him;

    for you have read chapters of dissent.

  7. ويقولُ دَمْعُكَ لم يَدَعْ بصراً

    أَسَمِعْتَ قَطُّ لعاشِقِ بِبَصَرْ

    And he says, 'Your tears have left no sight.'

    Have you ever heard of a lover with sight?

  8. بأَبي وأُمِّي من أَسَرَّ إِذا

    قالوا غزاهُ غزالُه فأَسَرْ

    My father and mother be ransom for the one who rejoiced when

    they said, 'His gazelle assailed him and took him captive.'

  9. قمرَ الفؤادَ وجدَّ في لَعِبٍ

    يا صِدْقَ من قال المليحُ قَمَرْ

    He won the heart in a gamble, and played in earnest;

    how true the one who said, 'The lovely one is a moon!'

  10. أَبليتَ جِسْمِي يا مليحُ ضنىً

    فالجِسْمُ كِتَّانٌ وأَنتَ قَمَرْ

    You have wasted my body, O lovely one, with lovesickness;

    for the body is linen, and you are the moon.

  11. لما بكيتُ ضحكْتَ من طَرَبٍ

    فنظمتَ ما كان المُحِبُّ نَثَرْ

    When I wept, you laughed with delight;

    so you strung together what the lover had scattered.

  12. يَا سَافِكاً دَمْعِي وناهِيَه

    حَسْبي وحسبُكَ قد أَخذْتَ فَذَرْ

    O you who shed my tears and forbid them,

    enough for me and you! You have taken—now let be.

  13. قُبِّحْتَ يا حُسْنَ الحبيب فَقَد

    أَضْحَى دَمي مثل الدُّمُوعِ هَدَرْ

    May you be made ugly, O beloved's beauty, for

    my blood, like my tears, has come to be shed in vain.

  14. فرميْتَنِي من تيهِهِ بِنَوىً

    ورجمْتَني من قلبِه بَحَجَرْ

    So, out of his pride, you pelted me with separation's pits,

    and stoned me with a stone from his heart.

  15. عانقتُه سَحَراً وغبتُ هَوىً

    فكأَنَّهُ لِيَ بالعِنَاقِ سَحَرْ

    I embraced him before dawn and swooned with love,

    as though he had bewitched me with that embrace.

  16. ولثمتُ تَحْتَ العَيْنِ من شَغَفِي

    بالعين أَو صَيَّرْتُ فيه أَثَر

    And I kissed beneath the eye, out of my passion

    for the eye—or left a mark upon him.

  17. ومَدَامِعِي من فوقِ وجْنَتِهِ

    أَو مَا سَمِعْتَ بجنةٍ ونَهَر

    And my tears flowed over his cheek—

    or have you not heard of a garden and a river?

  18. وشَفَعْتُ للغِزْلان إِذ حَضَرَتْ

    واستَوْهَبَتْ من ناظريه حَوَرْ

    And I interceded for the gazelles when they came

    and they begged his two eyes for a gift of dark-eyed beauty.

  19. ولَقَدْ بَدا لِلْبَدْرِ مُعْتَرِضاً

    فالبدرُ أَغْضَى والمحبُّ نَظَرْ

    And indeed, he appeared to challenge the full moon;

    so the full moon lowered its gaze, while the lover looked.

  20. والشَّمْسُ حمرةُ خدِّها خَجَلاً

    منْهُ وتَزْعُمُ أَنَّ ذَاكَ خَفَرْ

    And the sun's cheek is red with shame

    because of him, though she claims it is modesty.

  21. وتستَّرت بالغَرْبِ حينَ بَدَا

    وتَنَقَّبَتْ بالغَيْمِ حينَ سَفَرْ

    And she hid in the west when he appeared,

    and veiled herself with clouds when he unveiled his face.

  22. واهاً لغصنٍ زَهْرُه أَبداً

    صبحٌ وليل وغرّةٌ وشَعَرْ

    Ah, for a bough whose blossom is forever

    dawn and night—a radiant brow and hair.

  23. صُبْحٌ وليلٌ ظلَّ بينهما

    يا للملاحةِ طُرَّة كَسَحَرْ

    Dawn and night—between them lingered

    a forelock—what beauty!—like the hour before dawn.

  24. شَعْرٌ كليلةِ وصْلِ صاحبه

    حُسْناً ولكن ليْسَ فيه قِصَرْ

    Hair like a night of union with its owner

    in beauty, but without its brevity.

  25. والمُشْطُ يَشْكُو فيه طولَ سُرىً

    وكذاكَ يشكو منه بُعْدَ سَفَرْ

    And the comb complains of long night-travel through it,

    and likewise complains of the distance of its journey through it.

  26. يا آيةً لِلَّيلِ ما مُحِيَتْ

    للخَلْقِ فيكِ وللعُقُودِ سَمَرْ

    O sign of night that has not been effaced,

    people and necklaces have their nightly converse in you.

  27. للهِ عصْرٌ كالرّبيعِ مَضَى

    والرَّبْعُ رَوْضٌ والمِلاَحُ زَهَرْ

    How wondrous, by God, that bygone, springlike time,

    when the abode was a garden and the beauties flowers,

  28. والدّهرُ قُرْبٌ ليس فيه نَوىً

    والعيشُ صَفْوٌ ليس فيه كَدَرْ

    and time was closeness, with no separation in it,

    and life was clear, with no cloudiness in it.

  29. أَيامَ عِقدُ اللَّهْوِ منتظمٌ

    فاليومُ سلكٌ والكئوس دُرَرْ

    In the days when pleasure's necklace was strung in order,

    each day was a thread, and the cups were pearls.

  30. وكتابُ جُودِكَ بالوصال وما

    فيه لديوان الصُّدُودِ نَظَرْ

    And your generosity's writ was for union, with no

    authority over it for the office of rejection.

  31. وذكرتُه والكأْسُ فوقَ يَدِي

    فشَرِبْتُ للذكرى بوصلك شر

    And I recalled it, with the cup upon my hand,

    so I drank in remembrance, to union with you—[unclear ending: 'evil'].