1. جارت على الورد في أيام نضرته

    نسائم خاف منها عطره الباقي

    The rose was wronged in the days of its freshness

    By breezes that its lingering fragrance feared.

  2. إن يجزع الورد مظلوما فلا عجبٌ

    العيش للشوك يسقى ساقه الساقي

    If the rose is distraught at being wronged, it is no wonder;

    Life belongs to the thorn; the waterer waters its stem.

  3. إن اللئام تواسيهم نحائزهم

    بوابلٍ من هتون اللؤم دفّاقِ

    Indeed, the base are comforted by their own natures

    With a gushing torrent of the ceaseless rain of baseness.

  4. إن يظفروا فالليالي في عواقبهم

    ظلماً بظلمٍ وإرهاقاً بإرهاقِ

    If they triumph, the nights await them in the end:

    Injustice for injustice, and oppression for oppression.

  5. يا من أخاف إذا ناجيتُ صورته

    بالغيب أن تشهد الأيام إحراقي

    O you, I fear, when I commune with your image

    In your absence, that the days may witness my burning.

  6. ومن سرائره عنى محجّبةٌ

    كأنها الوحيُ يطوى بين أوراق

    And you whose secrets are veiled from me,

    As though they were revelation folded between pages.

  7. ما سرّ حسنك ما جسم يحيط به

    ثوبٌ ليدفع عنه فتك أحداقي

    What is the secret of your beauty? What is this body, wrapped

    In a robe to ward off the ravages of my eyes?

  8. جسمٌ من النور لو يوما ظهرت به

    عريان ما كان للأرواح من واقى

    A body of light—if one day you appeared in it

    Naked, there would be no protector for souls.