My moan is from the pain of a dangerous wound,
Would not sleep my eyelid, nor for me sleep's comfort.
The moan of one from his tribe captive,
Echoes moans enthralled, wounded.
Or like the moans of one fractured, splinted,
And splints their breaks never favour.
I suffer from the cry of a broken heart,
And from thrusts and great torment.
Endearment writ deep inside my heart,
Always mine in my presence and absence.
No and no without you! There is for me never another,
Oh my agony from you, oh from you my agony.
See me, pierced by passion,
Ever full of cares or troubles and despair.
You experience me and you are in my love experienced,
And love between us, yearning or reproach.
Love, oh my lord, has no prince,
And you, oh first among the fair of graceful neck,
If only from your letter would come a promise,
That may comfort my heart, even a word of reproach.
Judge me not by a blamer's words,
Like a guard he passes by, or like a mirage.
Oh doe-like, oh eye of wonderment,
Eye of baby lanner, or eye of oryx.
The light of his cheek is as lightning's light,
Or the full moon revealed through clouds.
Full of figure, yet the waist is slender,
The braid is black as the rook.
Upon his shoulder swims like silk,
Spread and when winds blow it ripples.
Oh messenger of goodness, quicken your pace,
For you in favour reward bounteously.
* It is a tradition in Arabic love poems and songs to use the masculine pronoun or possessive term (he, him or his) when praising a woman.