1. قسماً باللوح والقلم

    مالكي افتى بسفك دمي

    I swear by the Tablet and the Pen:

    My master has decreed the shedding of my blood.

  2. جلّ من في الحسن صوّره

    فتنة للعُرب والعجم

    Exalted is He who fashioned him in beauty,

    a temptation for Arabs and non-Arabs.

  3. وغرير ضوء غرَّته

    قد حكاها البدر في الظلم

    And a guileless youth, whose radiant brow

    the full moon has mirrored in the darkness.

  4. فانعطف يوماً لمرتقبٍ

    كاد أن يقضي من الالم

    So turn one day toward one who waits,

    who nearly dies of pain.

  5. قصرت عن وكف ادمعه

    معصرات المزن والديم

    Too scant to match his streaming tears

    are the rain-laden clouds and the steady rains.

  6. يشتكي من ودّ ذي غنج

    ودُّه كالظل لم يدم

    He laments the love of a coquettish one;

    his love, like a shadow, did not last.

  7. فتكت فينا لواحظه

    فتكات الصارم الخذم

    His glances wrought deadly havoc among us,

    the deadly strokes of a sharp, cleaving sword.

  8. افهل يدري غداة نأي

    اودع الاحشاء في ضرم

    Does he know that, on the morning of departure,

    he left my entrails in a blaze?

  9. سلبَ الارواح راحتها

    رشأٌ في راحتيه دمي

    He robbed souls of their repose—

    a young gazelle, my blood in his two palms.

  10. كنتُ ثبت الجاش ذا همم

    لم يدع لي البين من همم

    I was steadfast of heart, full of high aspirations;

    parting has left me no aspirations.

  11. ناعس الاجفان صل دنفاً

    ساهر الاجفان لم ينم

    O drowsy-eyed one, come to a lovesick man,

    wakeful-eyed, who has not slept.

  12. صل معنَّى القلب مكتئباً

    زدته سقما على سقم

    Come to one tormented at heart, grieving;

    you have added sickness to his sickness.

  13. كيف يصغي العذل ذو أرق

    قلقٌ اذناه في صمم

    How can a sleepless man listen to reproach,

    restless, with his ears deaf?

  14. يالقومي من لمحتكمٍ

    جائر في الحكم من قدم

    O my people, who will confront an arbiter

    long unjust in his judgments?

  15. رب ذي قرن يلوم فتى

    واذا ما لام لم يلم

    Many a horned man rebukes a youth,

    and when he rebukes, he is not rebuked.

  16. ان يشم من مغرم طمعا

    شابتا قرناه في اللمم

    If he scents hope of gain from a lover,

    his two horns turn gray amid his locks.

  17. وبنفسي افتدي عرباً

    نزلوا اكناف ذي سلم

    And with my life I would ransom Arabs

    who settled in the environs of Dhu Salam.

  18. هب نأوا عن ناظري فلكم

    ضربوا في القلب من خيم

    Suppose they are far from my sight—yet how many

    tents they have pitched within my heart!

  19. ليَ قلب ظلّ اثرهم

    بين تلك الكثب والاكم

    I have a heart that lingered in their wake

    among those sand dunes and hills.

  20. حكم الباري بفرقتنا

    ولكم الله من حكم

    The Creator decreed our separation;

    and what a judge God is for you!