1. دُموعُ الفجرِ هذي أم دموعي

    ترقرقُ بينَ أجفانِ الربيعِ

    Are these the tears of dawn, or my tears,

    shimmering between the eyelids of spring?

  2. مصفقةً كصافيةٍ جلالها

    باكؤسِهِ الخليلُ على الخليعِ

    Decanted, like clear wine unveiled

    in his goblets by a friend before a libertine.

  3. وهُنَّ من الأزاهرِ في شفاه

    كما تحلو اللمى بعدَ الهجوعِ

    They rest upon the blossoms' lips,

    as dusky lips grow sweet after slumber.

  4. وثديُ الروض درَّ على جناهُ

    درورَ المرضعاتِ على الرضيعِ

    The garden's breast poured milk upon its fruit,

    as nursing mothers' milk flows for the suckling.

  5. ومدَّ الليلُ أنفاساً عِذاباً

    كأنفاسِ المليحةِ للضجيعِ

    And night breathed forth sweet breaths,

    like a lovely woman's breaths beside her bedmate.

  6. ولاحَ الصبحُ يسفرُ عن جبينٍ

    عليهِ الشمسُ حالية السطوعِ

    And dawn appeared, unveiling a brow

    upon which the sun shone, adorned with radiance.

  7. وقد بكرتْ لتملأ جرتيها

    فتاةُ الريفِ كالرشاء المروعِ

    And she had gone early to fill her two jars—

    the country girl, like a startled gazelle fawn.

  8. فورَّدتِ الطبيعة وجنتيها

    ونضَّرَ وجهَها الحسن الطبيعي

    So Nature made her cheeks rosy,

    and natural beauty made her face radiant.

  9. تروحُ وتغتدي والزهرُ يرنو

    إليها في الذهاب وفي الرجوعِ

    She goes out at evening and morning, and the flowers gaze

    at her as she goes and as she returns.

  10. وثغرُ النهرِ يبسِمُ عن لُماها

    وإن لم تشفِ ريقتهُ ولوعي

    The river's mouth smiles, revealing her dusky lips,

    though its saliva has not cured my longing.

  11. وتخبرنا النسائمُ عن شذاها

    كما تروي الهواجرُ عن ضلوعي

    And the breezes tell us of her fragrance,

    just as the midday heats tell of my ribs.

  12. مكحلةٌ ولا كحلٌ ولكن

    سلِ الظبيَّاتِِ عن ذاك الصنيعِ

    Her eyes are kohl-dark, yet no kohl is there—but

    ask the gazelles about that artistry.

  13. وقد مدَّت حواجبها شراكاً

    وطيرُ الروحِ دانيةُ الوقوعِ

    She has spread her eyebrows as snares,

    and the soul's birds are close to falling.

  14. أراها أن تكنفها حسانٌ

    كنورِ الكهرباءةِ في الشموعِ

    I see her, if beautiful women surround her,

    like an electric lamp's light among candles.

  15. وتحجبُ حينَ تُخفى الشمس لكنْ

    تسابق أختها عند الطلوعِ

    She is veiled when the sun is hidden, but

    she races her sister at sunrise.

  16. فيا قلبُ اعصِ كلَّ هوىً سواها

    ويا نفسي سواها لا تطيعي

    So, my heart, resist every love but hers,

    and, my soul, obey no one but her.

  17. فذاكَ الحسنُ لا ما تشتريهِ

    ضرائرها من الحسنِ المبيعِ

    For that is beauty, not what is purchased

    by her rivals from beauty offered for sale.

  18. وما تحوي المدائنُ غيرَ بدعٍ

    وإن حسبوا التبدعَ كالبديعِ

    The cities hold nothing but contrivances,

    though they regard affectation as true beauty.

  19. فقد حسِنتْ هناكَ كلُّ أنثى

    كأنَّ الحسنَ قُسِّمَ في الجميعِ

    For every female there has grown beautiful,

    as though beauty had been divided among them all.

  20. يُدَمِّمنَ الخدودَ وأيُّ عينٍ

    تُحِبُ الخدَّ يصبغُ بالنجيعِ

    They rouge their cheeks—and what eye

    loves a cheek dyed with blood?

  21. وكم شفعن ذاكَ الحسنَ لكنْ

    متى احتاجَ الغواني للشفيعِ

    And how often they have supplemented that beauty! But

    when have beautiful women needed an intercessor?

  22. وهل تقفُ القلوبُ على قوامٍ

    كأنَّ ذيولهُ قِطَعُ القلوعِ

    Do hearts linger over a figure

    whose trailing skirts are like pieces of sails?

  23. فما لي والمدائنُ ما تراها

    مدافنُ ما بهنَّ سوى صريعِ

    So what have I to do with cities? What do you see them as?

    Graveyards, with nothing in them but the fallen.

  24. وهل كان التمدنُ في بنيهِ

    سوى ما يفعلونَ من الفظيعِ

    And has civilization, among its sons,

    been anything but the atrocities they commit?

  25. وهل أبصرتَ بينَ القومِ طرّاً

    سوى رجلٍ مضاعٍ أو مُضيعِ

    And have you seen among all the people

    anything but a neglected man or a squanderer?

  26. فهذا باتَ في شبعٍ وريٍّ

    وذلكَ مات من ظمإٍ وجوعِ

    This one spent the night sated and thirst-quenched,

    while that one died of thirst and hunger.

  27. وأحلى من أولئكَ في عيوني

    بأرياف القرى نظرُ القطيعِ

    And sweeter than those, to my eyes,

    is the sight of the herd in the villages' countryside.

  28. وإنَّ الأمرَ تمضيهِ فتاةٌ

    لخيرٌ من فتىً غيرُ جزوعِ

    Indeed, a task that a girl accomplishes

    is surely better than one done by a steadfast youth.

  29. وما شظفُ المعيشةِ في هناءٍ

    تقرُّ بهِ سوى العيش المريعِ

    And what is an austere life lived in happiness,

    in which you find peace, but a life of abundance?

  30. فلو مزجوا ببعض الهمِّ ماءً

    لصارَ الماءُ كالسمِّ النقيعِ

    If they mixed water with a little sorrow,

    the water would become like deadly poison.

  31. ولو أن الرواسيَ كنَّ تبراً

    لما كان الغنى غيرُ القنوعِ

    And even if the mountains were raw gold,

    wealth would still be nothing but contentment.

  32. أرى ذا الليلَ قدْ خفقت حشاهُ

    وبيَّضَ عينهُ نزفُ الدموعِ

    I see this night: its entrails have quivered,

    and the draining of tears has whitened its eye.

  33. أكبَ يرى لهُ كبداً تنزى

    زجاجتها منوعةُ الصدوعِ

    It bent low, seeing its own liver throb,

    its glass marked by cracks of many kinds.

  34. وأبصرَ بعدَ ذلكَ من قريبٍ

    جيوشَ الصبحِ تمرحُ في الربوعِ

    And then, close by, it saw

    the armies of dawn frolicking through the lands.

  35. فخلَّى ما تملَّكَهُ وولَّى

    كما فرقَ الجبانُ من الجموعِ

    So it abandoned what it had possessed and fled,

    as a coward takes fright at the crowds.

  36. وكنتُ مخبأً في جانبيهِ

    فيا شمسسُ اكتميني أو أذيعي

    And I had been hidden in its two flanks;

    so, O sun, conceal me or reveal me.