تقلبت في هزل الغرام وجدّه

تقلبت في هزل الغرام وجدّه

فما راق لي منهُ سوى حفظ ودهِ

فما راق لي منهُ سوى حفظ ودهِ

I have known every turn of love, its jest and its earnestness;

I have moved between love's playfulness and earnestness,

yet nothing in it pleased me but keeping faith with its affection.

Yet nothing in it pleased me but preserving its affection.

وقلب سليم جاءني منهُ هاتفٌ

وقلب سليم جاءني منهُ هاتفٌ

أسير هوى هلاَّ منتم بردهِ

أسير هوى هلاَّ منتم بردهِ

And from a heart still whole, an unseen voice came to me:

And from a sound heart a voice came to me:

“O captive of passion, will you not be so gracious as to return it?”

“O captive of passion, would you not graciously return it?”

إذا كان ذاك القلب عندي مقامهُ

إذا كان ذاك القلب عندي مقامهُ

كفاني بأني لم أذق لوم فقده

كفاني بأني لم أذق لوم فقده

If that heart has made its dwelling with me,

If that heart has its dwelling with me,

it is enough that I have never tasted the reproach of losing it,

It suffices me that I have not tasted reproach for losing it,

وأني على العهد القديم محافظٌ

وأني على العهد القديم محافظٌ

صبورٌ على صد الحبيب وبعدهِ

صبورٌ على صد الحبيب وبعدهِ

and that I steadfastly keep the ancient covenant,

And that I remain faithful to the old pledge,

patient beneath my beloved’s rebuff and absence.

Patient with the beloved's rejection and distance.

وايم اللّه والعتق قاتلي

وايم اللّه والعتق قاتلي

عبيدٌ أسير الصدق بل عبد عبدهِ

عبيدٌ أسير الصدق بل عبد عبدهِ

By God—and by the oath of manumission—my slayer,

And by God—freedom is my slayer—

ʿUbayd, is truth’s captive—nay, the slave of his slave.

I am a little slave, captive to sincerity, nay, his slave's slave.