وَلَيْلٍ كَأنَّ الثريا فِيهِ وَقَدْ بَدَا

وَلَيْلٍ كَأنَّ الثريا فِيهِ وَقَدْ بَدَا

مُحَيَّا غَزَالٍ أدْعَج الطرف أكْحَلِ

مُحَيَّا غَزَالٍ أدْعَج الطرف أكْحَلِ

And a night, as though the Pleiades within it, now revealed,

By night that reveals her, as if the Pleiades appeared,

Were the face of a gazelle with deep-black, kohl-rimmed eyes.

The form of a gazelle with dark languid eye.

كَأنَّ الثريا فِيهِ عقدٌ مُنَظَّمٌ

كَأنَّ الثريا فِيهِ عقدٌ مُنَظَّمٌ

عَلَى جِيدِ خَوْدٍ في حُلَى الشَّعْرِ تَنْجَلِي

عَلَى جِيدِ خَوْدٍ في حُلَى الشَّعْرِ تَنْجَلِي

As though the Pleiades within it were a neatly strung necklace

As if the Pleiades that night were a necklace

Upon a young maiden’s neck, shining amid the ornaments of her hair.

Strung on the neck of a lovely fawn with ruffled hair.