تعلم طرفها نوم الغزالِ

تعلم طرفها نوم الغزالِ

وعلَّم ناظري سهر الليالي

وعلَّم ناظري سهر الليالي

Her gaze learned the gazelle's slumber,

Her eyes taught the gaze of a gazelle sleep

And taught my eye to keep vigil through the nights.

And taught my eyes the wakefulness of nights

وأعرض جيدها عني وعيني

وأعرض جيدها عني وعيني

تنقِّطه بأنواع اللآلي

تنقِّطه بأنواع اللآلي

And her neck turned away from me, while my eye

She turned her cheek from me though my eyes

Dots it with pearls of every kind.

Bespattered it with all kinds of glances

فتاة تمنع الظمآن فاها

فتاة تمنع الظمآن فاها

وتمنع عينه طيف الخيال

وتمنع عينه طيف الخيال

A maiden who denies the thirsty man her mouth,

A girl who forbids the thirsty her mouth

And denies his eye the apparition of a dream.

And forbids her image to haunt one’s dreams

كأن نهودها رمان روضٍ

كأن نهودها رمان روضٍ

تكوَّن في غدير من زلال

تكوَّن في غدير من زلال

As though her breasts were a garden's pomegranates,

As though her breasts were pomegranates

Formed in a pool of limpid water.

Formed in a stream of limpid water

وتحسب وجهها قمراً تجلَّى

وتحسب وجهها قمراً تجلَّى

على خوط من الأسل العوالي

على خوط من الأسل العوالي

And you would think her face a moon shining forth

You’d think her face the moon appearing

Upon a supple shoot of tall rushes.

On the horizon’s lofty line

نخاف لفرط رقته عليها

نخاف لفرط رقته عليها

إذا لعبت بها ريح الدلال

إذا لعبت بها ريح الدلال

We fear for her because of its extreme delicacy,

We fear, so delicate is she, the wind

When the wind of coquetry plays with her.

Of coquetry might play with her and harm

لنا من فرقها الزاهي هلالٌ

لنا من فرقها الزاهي هلالٌ

تمثل مثل سيف أبي هلال

تمثل مثل سيف أبي هلال

We have a crescent from her radiant hair-parting,

The new crescent of her radiant separation is ours

That took shape like Abu Hilal's sword.

Like the sword of Aby Haleel unsheathed

يبعِّد ذا ظلامَ الليل عنا

يبعِّد ذا ظلامَ الليل عنا

وهذا ظلمَ أوباشِ الرجال

وهذا ظلمَ أوباشِ الرجال

The one drives the darkness of night away from us,

Dispelling the darkness of night from us

And the other, the oppression wrought by base men.

As it dispels the gloom made by evil men