1. أَفدي غَزالاً مِن آلِ لَيثٍ

    تَمَّت لَهُ دَولَةُ الجَمالِ

    I would ransom a gazelle of the house of Layth;

    Beauty's reign is wholly his.

  2. تَفعَلُ أَلحاظُهُ بِقَلبي

    ما يَفعَلُ اللَيثُ بِالغَزالِ

    His glances do to my heart

    What the lion does to the gazelle.

  3. ذا حاجِبٍ خُطَّ تَحتَ صَلتٍ

    مُنَوِّرٍ بِالجَمالِ حالِ

    With an eyebrow drawn beneath a smooth forehead,

    Radiant and adorned with beauty—

  4. كَأَنَّ أَيدي فَتى هِلالٍ

    عَرَقنَ نوناً عَلى هِلالِ

    As though the hands of the youth of Hilāl

    Had traced a nūn upon a crescent.

  5. يا مُشبِهَ البَدرِ حينَ يَبدو

    في النورِ وَالبُعدِ وَالكَمالِ

    O you who resemble the full moon when it appears,

    In radiance, remoteness, and perfection:

  6. أَفديكَ يا مَن تَراهُ عيني

    في كُلِّ يَومٍ بِسوءِ حالِ

    I would ransom you, O you whom my eye sees

    Every day in a wretched state,

  7. وَكُلَّ يَومٍ بِبَطنِ سِجنٍ

    وَكُلَّ آنٍ بِبابِ والي

    And every day in the belly of a prison,

    And every moment at a governor's door.

  8. كَيفَ أَتَوا بِالسِياطِ ضَرباً

    مِن فَوقِ أَردافِكَ الثِقالِ

    How could they deliver blows with whips

    Upon your heavy buttocks?

  9. فَأَثَروا فَوقَها رُسوماً

    كَأَنَّها الطُرُقُ في الجِبالِ

    And so they left marks upon them,

    As though they were paths in the mountains.