1. هل البدر إلا ما حواه لثامها

    أو الصبح إلا ما جلاه ابتسامها

    Is the full moon anything but what her veil enfolds?

    Or dawn anything but what her smile reveals?

  2. أو النار إلا ما بدا فوق خدها

    سناها وفي قلب المحب ضرامها

    Or fire anything but what appears upon her cheek—

    its glow—with its blaze in the lover's heart?

  3. أقامت بقلبي إذ أقام بحبها

    فدارتها قلبي وداري خيامها

    She dwelt in my heart when it dwelt in love for her;

    so her dwelling is my heart, and my dwelling her tents.

  4. مهاة نقاً لو يستطاع اقتناصها

    وكعبة حسن لو يطاق استلامها

    An oryx of the dunes—if only she could be caught!

    And beauty's Kaaba—if only one could touch her!

  5. إذا ما نضت عنها اللثام وأسفرت

    تقشع من شمس النهار غمامها

    When she removes her veil and reveals her face,

    the sun of day is cleared of its clouds.

  6. نهاية حظي أن أقبل تربها

    وأيسر حظ للثام التثامها

    My utmost fortune is to kiss her dust,

    while the veil's least fortune is to kiss her.

  7. تريك محيا الشمس في ليل شعرها

    على قيد رمح وجهها وقوامها

    She shows you the sun's countenance in the night of her hair,

    her face and stature, a spear's length high.

  8. وتزهى على البدر المنير فإنها

    مدى الدهر لا يخشى السرار تمامها

    And she vaunts herself above the radiant full moon, for

    through all time, her fullness fears no dark lunar phase.

  9. تغني على أعطافها ورق حليها

    إذا ناح في هيف الغصون حمامها

    The gray doves of her jewels sing upon her curves,

    when her doves lament among the slender boughs.

  10. تردد بين الخمر والسحر لحظها

    وحازها والدر أيضاً كلامها

    Her gaze wavers between wine and sorcery,

    and her speech possesses these, and pearls besides.

  11. كلانا نشاوي غير أن جفونها

    مدام المعنى والدلال مدامها

    We are both drunk, except that her eyelids

    are the lovelorn man's wine, while coquetry is hers.

  12. وليلة زارت والثريا كأنها

    نظاماً وحسناً عقدها وابتسامها

    And one night she visited, while the Pleiades seemed,

    in arrangement and beauty, her necklace and her smile.

  13. وحيت فأحيت ما أمات صدودها

    وردت فرد الروح في سلامها

    And she greeted me, reviving what her aversion had killed,

    and she replied: in her greeting lay my soul's return.

  14. وقالت بعيني ذا السقام الذي أرى

    فقلت وهل بلواي إلا سقامها

    And she said, ‘May my eyes bear this sickness that I see.’

    I said, ‘And is my affliction anything but her languor?’

  15. فأبدت ثناياها فقل في خميلة

    بدا نورا وانشق عنها كمامها

    Then she bared her front teeth—imagine a leafy grove,

    its blossoms appearing as their bud-sheaths split open.

  16. وأبعدت لا بل سمط در تصونه

    بأصداف ياقوت لماها ختامها

    But I have strayed too far—no, rather a string of pearls she guards

    in ruby shells, their seal the darkness of her lips.

  17. وقالت وما للعين عهد بطيفها

    ولا النوم مذ صدت وعز مرامها

    And she said—my eye had known no visit from her phantom,

    nor sleep since she shunned me and became so hard to attain—

  18. لقد أتعبت عيني جفونك في الدجى

    فقلت سلي جفنيك أين منامها

    ‘Your eyelids have wearied my eyes in the darkness.’

    I said, ‘Ask your own eyelids where their sleep is.’

  19. وما علمت أن الرقاد وقد جفت

    كمثل حياتي في يديها زمامها

    And she did not know that sleep, after she had shunned me,

    like my life, had its reins in her hands.

  20. وكم ليلة سامرت فيها نجومها

    كأني راع ضل عنه سوامها

    And many a night I kept company with its stars,

    as though I were a shepherd whose grazing flock had strayed.

  21. كأن الثريا والهلال ودارة

    حوته وقد زان الثريا التئامها

    As though the Pleiades, the crescent, and a halo

    enclosing it, the Pleiades graced by their clustering,

  22. حباب طفا من حول رفرف فضة

    بكف فتاة طاف بالراح جامها

    were bubbles afloat around a rim of silver

    in a maiden's hand, her wine-goblet passing round.

  23. كأن نجوماً في المجرة خرد

    سواق رماها في غدير زحامها

    As though stars in the Milky Way were young maidens,

    water-bearers cast into a pool by their jostling.

  24. كأن رياضاً قد تسلسل ماؤها

    فشقت أقاحيها وشاق خزامها

    As though they were gardens whose water rippled along,

    their daisies opening and their lavender enticing.

  25. كأن سنا الجوزاء إكليل جوهر

    أضاءت لآليه فراق انتظامها

    As though Orion's glow were a crown of gems,

    its pearls shining in a delightful array.

  26. كأن لدى النسرين في الجو غلمة

    رماة رمى ذا دون هذا سهامها

    As though beside the two Eagles in the sky were boys,

    archers whose arrows struck this one rather than that.

  27. كأن سهيلاً والنجوم وراءه

    صفوف صلاة قام فيها إمامها

    As though Suhayl and the stars behind it

    were rows at prayer, with their imam standing among them.

  28. كأن الدجى هيجاء جرت نجومه

    أسنتها والبرق فيها حسامها

    As though the darkness were a battle fought, its stars

    its spearheads, and the lightning within it its sword.

  29. كأن الرجوم الهاديات فوارس

    تساقط ما بين الأسنة هامها

    As though the guiding star-missiles were horsemen,

    whose heads tumbled down among the spearheads.

  30. كأن سنا المريخ شعلة قابس

    تلوح على بعدويخفى ضرامها

    As though Mars's glow were a fire-seeker's flame,

    gleaming from afar while its blaze remained hidden.

  31. كأن السها صب سها نحو إلفه

    يراعي الليالي جفنه لا ينامها

    As though al-Suha were a lover, lost in thought of his beloved,

    his eyelid watching the nights, never sleeping through them.

  32. كأن خفوق القلب قلب متيم

    رأى بلدة الأحباب أقوى مقامها

    As though the Heart's flicker were a lovesick heart,

    that saw his loved ones' town, its dwelling-place deserted.

  33. كأن ثريا أفقه في انبساطها

    يمين كريم لا يخاف انضمامها

    As though the Pleiades of its horizon, spread wide,

    were a generous man's right hand, with no fear of its closing.

  34. كأن بفتح الدين في جوده اقتدت

    فروى الروابي والأكام انركامها

    As though they had followed Fath al-Din in his generosity,

    so their heaping up [reading uncertain] watered the hills and hillocks.