1. حيث كنا قبل في أحلامنا

    نشرب الصفو من الود جلستُ

    Where once, in our dreams, we would

    drink the pure essence of affection, I sat.

  2. وعلى وجهك في غيبته

    من رحيق العشق والود شربتُ

    And upon your face, in its absence,

    I drank from the nectar of passion and affection.

  3. لا تسلني عن ليال سلفت

    أنا أجهل منها ما عرفت

    Do not ask me about nights gone by;

    I no longer know what I once knew of them.

  4. كل يوم دون حب ذاهب

    ليتني أعرف أني قد عشقت

    Every day without love slips away.

    If only I knew that I had loved.

  5. يسأل السائل من أنتم ولو

    وهب العمر جميعا ما أجبت

    The questioner asks who you are; even if

    he gave his whole life, I would not answer.

  6. أنا من وجدى بكم أبغضكم

    آه من كاس سقتني فغضبت

    Out of my longing for you, I hate you.

    Ah, a cup gave me drink, and I grew angry!

  7. لا تلوموني على وجدى بكم

    لو أطلقت الصبر يوما ما أجدت

    Do not blame me for my longing for you.

    If I gave patience free rein for a day, I would not succeed.

  8. شاعر يصبو بحسن نائم

    وبوجدى في هواه قد سهرت

    A poet yearning for beauty asleep;

    and in my yearning love for it, I have stayed awake.

  9. مضت الخمسون من عمري سدى

    في غرام كان أقسى ما اصطليت

    Fifty years of my life have passed in vain,

    in a passion—the harshest fire I ever endured.

  10. كان في باريس حب عاصف

    بغرام منه بالنار اكتويت

    In Paris there was a tempestuous love;

    through a passion born of it, I was seared by fire.

  11. وهوى ليلى ببغداد هوى

    من جواه الموقد النار اشتويت

    And love for Layla in Baghdad was a love

    by whose fire-kindling anguish I was roasted.

  12. إن ليلى تحفة من أدبى

    أين ليلاي فإني قد جهلت

    Indeed, Layla is a masterpiece of my writing.

    Where is my Layla? For I no longer know.

  13. أخذت بغداد قلبي كله

    بالعيون السود يا قلبي أخذت

    Baghdad took my whole heart;

    by black eyes, O my heart, I was taken.

  14. لو رأى المجنون يوما شغفى

    لدرى أني محب قد عقلت

    Had Majnun seen my passion one day,

    he would know that I am a lover who has come to his senses.

  15. والشبيبيّ يراني صاحيا

    أنا بالصحو من العشق كفرت

    And al-Shabibi sees me sober;

    I have renounced sobriety out of passionate love.

  16. آو لو يعرف من يظلمني

    أنني بالشعر إن شئت ظلمت

    Oh, if only the one who wrongs me knew

    that, through poetry, I could wrong him if I wished.

  17. ما الذي يبقى إذا فارقتكم

    وبلطف الروح عنكم قد عفوت

    What remains if I part from you?

    And with gentleness of spirit, I have forgiven you.