ماذا عليها لو ترق لحالي

وتجيرني من صدها القتال

What would it cost her to take pity on my plight,

And save me from her deadly rejection,

وتريح قلبي من تباريح الجوى

يوماً بوصل أو بطيف خيال

And ease my heart of the torments of longing,

One day, through union or a phantom vision?

ريحانة المشتاق جودي أو عدي

مضناك يوماً بارتياح البال

O sweet basil of the yearning lover, grant or promise

Your lovesick one peace of mind some day.

لولا جمالك ما عرفت محبة

عمري ولم أشغف بنيل وصال

Were it not for your beauty, I would never have known love

In all my life, nor yearned to attain union.

كلا ولا بت الليالي ساهراً

أروي الثرى بالمدمع الهطال

No, nor would I have spent the nights awake,

Watering the soil with pouring tears.

أكبرت فيك الحسن ياذات البها

فحمدت فيه رقتي وهزالي

I revered beauty in you, O radiant one,

So for its sake I praised my frailty and my wasting.

وحملت ودك في فؤادي والجوى

وحملت لي تيهاً وفرط دلال

And I carried your love and longing within my heart,

While you harbored toward me haughtiness and excessive coyness.

عيناك أولعتا بقربك مهجتي

فعلام قلبك لا يفي بنوال

Your eyes have made my soul yearn for your nearness;

Why, then, does your heart fail to grant a favor?

ريحانتي رحماك ما هذا الجفا

أنسيت ودي أم صرمت حبالي

My sweet basil, I beg your mercy—what is this coldness?

Have you forgotten my love, or severed my cords?

أم أنت مصغية لقالة عاذل

لو كان مثلي مغرماً لرثي لي

Or are you listening to a reproacher's words?

Were he as love-stricken as I, he would pity me.

هيهات يسلو القلب عن حب التي

تركته رهن الهم والبلبال

Never can the heart forget its love for her who

Left it hostage to sorrow and turmoil.

لكنه يقضي الحياة مع الهوى

ويرى وبال الحب غير وبال

Yet it spends its life with passion,

And sees love's affliction as no affliction.