1. يا عَاذلي قَسماً بمن فَلقَ النَّوى

    ما المُوتُ عندَ ذوي الهوَى إلاَّ النَّوى

    O my reproacher, I swear by Him who split the date stones:

    To lovers, death is nothing but separation.

  2. فَإلامَ لومٌ والرَّكائبُ طُلَّحُ

    حَسرَى تَسيرُ ونَجمُ شَملي قَد هَوى

    How long, then, this reproach, while the riding-camels are worn out,

    Journeying exhausted, and the star of my union has fallen?

  3. نأتِ الدِّيارُ بِبَدرِ حَيِّ لم يَدَع

    حيَّاً وما أَودَى بمُهجَتهِ الجَوَى

    The lands have borne far away a tribe's full moon, who left

    No one alive, yet love's anguish has not claimed his life.

  4. تَرفِ البَنانِ قَوامهُ لو شِئتَ أن

    تَلويهِ من لين المعَاطفِ لالتَوى

    Delicate-fingered—his figure, if you wished to

    Bend it, would bend, so supple are his limbs.

  5. حُلوِ الرُّضَابِ لَطِيفُ خالِ خُدودهِ

    من فوقِ عرشٍ كالشَّقيقِ قدِ استَوى

    Sweet is his saliva; the delicate mole on his cheeks

    Has taken its seat atop a throne like a red anemone.

  6. في فَترةِ الأجَفانِ أرسلَ صُدغَهُ

    فَلذاكَ قد أمرَ الخَلائِقَ بالهَوىَ

    With languor in his eyelids, he let loose his temple-lock;

    Thus he has commanded all creation to love.

  7. مُتشعِّبِ الأَوصافِ إلاَّ أَنَّهُ

    رقَّ القُلوبِ بطرفهِ السَّاجي حَوى

    Manifold in his qualities, yet he

    Has taken hearts into bondage with his languid gaze.

  8. يَثنيه إِعجابُ الصِّبا فتخالُه

    غُصنَ الأراكِ يميسُ في حقِفِ اللَّوَى

    Youth's self-admiration makes him sway, so you would take him for

    A branch of arak swaying upon a curved dune of al-Liwa.

  9. قَاسٍ عليَّ وما لأسري فيهِ من

    فادٍ ولا فيهِ لدِائي من دَوَا

    Cruel toward me; for my bondage to him there is no

    Ransomer, nor in him any cure for my illness.

  10. فَكانَّ نارَ صَبابتي فيه غَضىً

    هَبَّت لهُ ريحٌ بمُختلف الصُّوَى

    As though the fire of my longing for him were burning ghada wood,

    Upon which a wind blew where the waymarks diverge.

  11. وَلرُبَّ مجهولِ الفَلا تَردِي بِهِ

    خُوص الرِّكابِ من الضّما ومنَ الطَّوَى

    And through many an uncharted desert race

    Riding-camels, their eyes sunken from thirst and hunger.

  12. لَو سارَ فيهِ النَّجمُ صُبحاً ما اهتَدى

    أَو مَرَّ فيهِ البَرقُ خافَ من التَّوى

    If the star journeyed through it at dawn, it would not find its way,

    Or if lightning passed through it, it would fear destruction.