أمن هجر من تهواه قلبك واجد

ودمعك مهراقٌ وصبرك بائد

Is your heart grieving at the desertion of the one you love,

And are your tears pouring forth, your patience gone?

أم أنت ببين قد دهيت فهذه

علامات صبٍّ بان والحب خالد

Or have you been stricken by separation? For these are

The signs of a parted, lovesick lover, while love lives on.

نعم أنا مشغوف الفؤاد مفارق

على الرغم من أهواه ما أنا جاحد

Yes, my heart is smitten, and I am parted

Against my will from the one I love; I do not deny it.

فدعني وما ألقى من الوجد والأسى

ونفسك إن الحب فيه الشدائد

So leave me with the passion and sorrow I endure,

And guard yourself—for love holds hardships—

عن الخود لا يرديك اسهم لحظها

فهن لألباب الألبا رواصد

From the fair maiden: let not her glance's arrows slay you,

For they lie in ambush for the minds of the wise.

ألا فاعتبرني واتعظ واترك الهوى

وعش سالماً منه وأمرك راشد

Take heed! Take me as a lesson, heed the warning, and forsake love,

And live safe from it, your course rightly guided.

فما الحب إلا لوعة وكئابة

ونوح وسهد دائماً وتواجد

For love is nothing but anguish and melancholy,

And lamentation, perpetual sleeplessness, and outpourings of longing.

وكم نظرة أوحت إلى القلب حسرة

تبيد قوى الإنسان والحال شاهد

And many a glance has inspired sorrow in the heart,

That destroys human strength—the sufferer's state bears witness.

وكم من مليح الوجه يغري بلفظه

يسيل دلالاً وهو بالوصل جامد

And many a fair-faced one entices with his speech,

He flows with coy charm, yet is frozen when it comes to union.

جواد ولكن بالجفا لمحبه

قريب ولكن وصله متباعد

Generous, but with coldness toward his lover;

Close at hand, but union with him is far away.

أنيس يظن المستهام دنوه

على انه مهما دنى فهو شارد

Affable—the love-crazed one thinks him near,

Yet however near he comes, he remains elusive.

يقول حذار من لحاظي فإنني

على قتل من يهوى بها لي عامد

He says, 'Beware of my glances, for I

Intend by them to kill whoever loves me.'

وبي من بني سام غزال منزف

لطيف الحشى والتيه بالقد مائد

I am smitten with an intoxicated gazelle from the sons of Sām,

Slender of waist, with pride swaying in his form.

تعلق بي من قبل طفلا ومذ نشى

علقت به والقلب للقلب رائد

He was attached to me earlier, as a child; and since he grew up,

I have clung to him, one heart a guide to the other.

تآلفت الأرواح منا وهكذا

اذا إئتلف الأرواح صح التوادد

Our souls found harmony, and thus it is:

When souls are in accord, mutual affection is genuine.

فلي وله جسمان أضناهما الجوى

لفرط النوى فالحكم في الحب واحد

For he and I have two bodies, both wasted by love's anguish,

From so much separation; love's judgment is the same for both.

سقى ربعك المأنوس مغدودق الحيا

وعله من دمع المحبين جائد

May abundant rain water your welcoming dwelling,

And may a lavish shower of lovers' tears drench it anew.

وحيا ظبيات رعت روض انسه

ولا ذادها عنه مدى الدهر ذائد

And may it greet the gazelles that grazed in its garden of joy,

And may none ever drive them away from it.

رعى الله ليلاً بات فيه مسامري

مورد خدٍّ ثغره العذب بارد

May God preserve a night my companion spent with me,

Rose-cheeked, his sweet mouth cool.

يدير عليّ الكاس سائل ريقه

على أن ما فيه بخديه جامد

He passes me the cup of his flowing saliva,

Though what it holds lies solid in his cheeks.

ألا ليت شعري هل على العهد بعدنا

يدوم الهوى أم حاده عنه حائد

Ah, would that I knew: after our parting, true to the pledge,

Does love endure, or has someone turned him away from it?

فإني كما يهوى مقيم على الوفا

ولو انه طال النوى والتباعد

For I, as he wishes, remain steadfast in fidelity,

Even if separation and distance grow long.