Translation:

1) My heart told me that you are my destroyer my soul is your hostage/ransom whether you know it or not
2) I have not honored the right of your love if I do not die in it out of sorrow, and someone like me is one who honors (his promises)
3) What do I have but my soul? One who gives himself (his soul) for him who he loves in love is not extravagant
4) If you are pleased by it, then you draw near to me o futility of effort, if you didn’t draw near
5) O you my preventer of sweet dreams, giver of the clothes of sickness and with them my debilitating love
6) Have mercy on my last breath and what you have left for me of my perishing body and afflicted heart
7) Love remains and union eludes me (or is my delay) and patience fades and the reunion eludes me (or is my delay)
8) I am not free of other people being jealous of you so don’t waste my sleeplessness because of the fabrications of slanderous imagination
9) Ask the stars of the night, has slumber visited my eyelids? how can you visit someone you don’t know?
10) It is no wonder my eye is stingy with closing its lids while it is generous in the flowing of torrential tears
11) I saw the terror of the day of judgement in what occurred of the pain of separation and the scene of parting
12) If there is no reunion with you then promise it to me, and then you can postpone it
13) Postponement from you, in my eyes, if fulfilling is scarce is as sweet as union with a lover
14) I inclined towards the breaths of the wind biding my time
And to the face of the one that transmits his fragrance*
15) Perhaps the fire of my wings will go out from its blowing
And I wish that it would not go out
16) O friends of mine, you are my hope, and whosoever
Calls you “friends of mine” will be sufficed
17) They returned from what you (pl.)* were upon of fulfillment
Out of generosity, for indeed I am that faithful friend
18) By your lives, by your lives, I swear and in my life, I have not sworn by other than your lives
19) If my soul were in my possession, if I granted it to the one who brings good tidings of your arrival, I would not be just
20) Don’t consider me in my desire to behave unnaturally my love for you is by nature not by strained effort
21) I have concealed my love for you, it concealed me in grief until it was almost as if I was concealed from myself by my life
22) So I hid it from myself for if I were to disclose it I would have found it more elusive than hidden kindness
23) I say to one who meddles with love you expose yourself to affliction, so be a target
24) You are the victim of whomsoever you love so choose for yourself in love whom you select
25) Say to the critics, you have prolonged my blame out of desiring that blame from love would stop me
26) Stop being harsh with me and taste the flavor of Love and when you have loved, then after that be harsh (with me)
27) The secret has come out with the love of the one, who if in darkness (her) veil was rent, I would say, o moon, hide
28) And if one other than me is content with the specters of his imagination I am the one who is not content (even) with reunion with the beloved
29) My love is endowed to him and I am not cured of my affliction by less than my annihilation
30) By his love, and he is my right hand (i.e. my oath), and he suffices as an oath and I extol him almost as much as the Qur’an*
31) If he said flirtatiously: stand on hot embers I would stand obediently and I would not hesitate
32) If he is one who it pleases to step on my cheek I would put it on the ground and not be proud
33) Don’t deny my passion for what pleases him even if he does not take pity on me with union
34) Love prevailed, so I obeyed the command of my passion and in so doing, regarding him, I disobeyed the prohibition of my blamer
35) From me to him is the humbleness of submission and from him to me is the glory of the preventer and the power of the humbler
36) He made religion familiar and I have a heart that has never ceased being not attached to anything but his kindness (not ceased to encounter anything but his kindness)
37) O how lovely is everything which he is contented with and his saliva, o how sweet it is in my mouth
38) If they let Jacob hear a mention of the fineness of his face he would forget the beauty of Joseph
39) Or if Job saw him in a short visit, in a light sleep long ago he would have been cured of his affliction
40) Every full moon and every lithe physique will fall in love with him when he appears as approaching
41) If I say: Every passion (in the world) I have for you He says: I have the glory and every beauty is in me
42) His virtues are perfected and if he had given radiance to the moon when full it would not wane (be eclipsed)
43) With the arts of the describers of his beauty, time expires and nevertheless there is in him that which has not been described
44) I have spent all of myself for the sake of his love at the hand of his beauty so I praise the goodness of my expense
45) The eye desires the form of the beauty which is used by my spirit to love the hidden meaning (spiritually)
46) Make me happy dear brother and enrich me with reports of him sprinkle upon my hearing his attractions and please it
47) So that I see with the eye of hearing the testimony/sight of his beauty spiritually bestow this upon me and honour me
48) O sister of Sa‘ad* from my beloved you came to me with a message and you brought it with loving-kindness
49) I heard what did not hear and I saw what you did not see and I knew what you did not know
50) If he should visit you, o innards, be rent to shreds and if he should leave, o eye, weep
51) There is no harm in distance, for the one whom I love If he is absent form the pupil of my eye, nevertheless he is in me

*The breaths of the wind is a stock imagine of the distant lover catching the scent of the Beloved’s perfume. The mystical interpretation is that these breaths (and the face of the second hemistich) are God’s manifestations in the sensible world that comfort the aspirant. Line 15 points out that these comforts can also threaten to blow out the fire of love (if the aspirant becomes too attached to sensible pleasures in their own right), which the aspirant does not want. The switch to addressing the beloved with the plural (“kuntum”) indicates that the speaker is addressing the manyness along with the oneness of God, the Beloved and her breaths, God along with his manifestations.

*This could either mean that the poet extols the beloved almost as much as he extols the Qur’an , or that the poet extols the beloved almost as much as he is extolled in the Qur’an (the beloved being the Prophet).

*This is a reference to Halima, the wet-nurse of the Prophet

Original:

قلْبي يُحدّثُني بأنّكَ مُتلِفي، روحي فداكَ عرفتَ أمْ لمْ تعرفِ
لم أقضِ حقَّ هَوَاكَ إن كُنتُ الذي لم أقضِ فيهِ أسى ً، ومِثلي مَن يَفي
ما لي سِوى روحي، وباذِلُ نفسِهِ، في حبِّ منْ يهواهُ ليسَ بمسرفِ
فَلَئنْ رَضيتَ بها، فقد أسْعَفْتَني؛ يا خيبة َ المسعى إذا لمْ تسعفِ
يا مانِعي طيبَ المَنامِ، ومانحي ثوبَ السِّقامِ بهِ ووجدي المتلفِ
عَطفاً على رمَقي، وما أبْقَيْتَ لي منْ جِسميَ المُضْنى ، وقلبي المُدنَفِ
فالوَجْدُ باقٍ، والوِصالُ مُماطِلي، والصّبرُ فانٍ، واللّقاءُ مُسَوّفي
لم أخلُ من حَسدٍ عليكَ، فلاتُضعْ سَهَري بتَشنيعِ الخَيالِ المُرْجِفِ
واسألْ نُجومَ اللّيلِ:هل زارَ الكَرَى جَفني، وكيفَ يزورُ مَن لم يَعرِفِ؟
لا غَروَ إنْ شَحّتْ بِغُمضِ جُفونها عيني وسحَّتْ بالدُّموعِ الدُّرَّفِ
وبماجرى في موقفِ التَّوديعِ منْ ألمِ النّوى ، شاهَدتُ هَولَ المَوقِفِ
إن لم يكُنْ وَصْلٌ لَدَيكَ، فَعِدْ بهِ أملي وماطلْ إنْ وعدتَ ولاتفي
فالمطلُ منكَ لديَّ إنْ عزَّ الوفا يحلو كوصلٍ منْ حبيبٍ مسعفِ
أهفو لأنفاسِ النَّسيمِ تعلَّة ً ولوجهِ منْ نقلتْ شذاهُ تشوُّفي
فلَعَلَ نارَ جَوانحي بهُبوبِها أنْ تَنطَفي، وأوَدّ أن لا تنطَفي
يا أهلَ ودِّي أنتمُ أملي ومنْ ناداكُمُ يا أهْلَ وُدّي قد كُفي
عُودوا لَما كُنتمْ عليهِ منَ الوَفا، كرماً فإنِّي ذلكَ الخلُّ الوفي
وحياتكمْ وحياتكمْ قسماً وفي عُمري، بغيرِ حياتِكُمْ، لم أحْلِفِ
لوْ أنَّ روحي في يدي ووهبتها لمُبَشّري بِقَدومِكُمْ، لم أنصفِ
لا تحسبوني في الهوى متصنِّعاً كلفي بكمْ خلقٌ بغيرِ تكلُّفِ
أخفيتُ حبَّكمُ فأخفاني أسى ً حتى ، لعَمري، كِدتُ عني أختَفي
وكَتَمْتُهُ عَنّي، فلو أبدَيْتُهُ لَوَجَدْتُهُ أخفى منَ اللُّطْفِ الخَفي
ولقد أقولُ لِمن تَحَرّشَ بالهَوَى : عرَّضتَ نفسكَ للبلا فاستهدفِ
أنتَ القتيلُ بأيِّ منْ أحببتهُ فاخترْ لنفسكَ في الهوى منْ تصطفي
قلْ للعذولِ أطلتَ لومي طامعاً أنَّ الملامَ عنِ الهوى مستوقفي
دعْ عنكَ تعنيفي وذقْ طعمَ الهوى فإذا عشقتَ فبعدَ ذلكَ عنِّفِ
بَرَحَ الخَفاءَبحُبّ مَن لو، في الدّجى سفرَ الِّلثامَ لقلتُ يا بدرُ اختفِ
وإن اكتفى غَيْري بِطيفِ خَيالِهِ، فأنا الَّذي بوصالهِ لا أكتفي
وَقْفاً عَلَيْهِ مَحَبّتي، ولِمِحنَتي، بأقَلّ مِنْ تَلَفي بِهِ، لا أشْتَفي
وهَواهُ، وهوَ أليّتي، وكَفَى بِهِ قَسَماً، أكادُ أُجِلّهُ كالمُصْحَفِ
لوْ قالَ تِيهاً:قِفْ على جَمْرِ الغَضا لوقفتُ ممتثلاً ولمْ أتوقفِ
أوْ كانَ مَنْ يَرْضَى ، بخدّي، موطِئاً لوضعتهُ أرضاً ولمْ أستنكفِ
لا تنكروا شغفي بما يرضى وإنْ هوَ بالوصالِ عليَّ لمْ يتعطَّفِ
غَلَبَ الهوى ، فأطَعتُ أمرَ صَبابَتي منْ حيثُ فيهِ عصيتُ نهيَ معنِّفي
مني لَهُ ذُلّ الخَضوع، ومنهُ لي عزُّ المنوعِ وقوَّة ُ المستضعفِ
ألِفَ الصّدودَ، ولي فؤادٌ لم يَزلْ، مُذْ كُنْتُ، غيرَ وِدادِهِ لم يألَفِ
ياما أميلحَ كلَّ ما يرضى بهِ ورضابهُ ياما أحيلاهُ بفي
لوْ أسمعوا يعقوبَ ذكرَ ملاحة ٍ في وجههِ نسيَ الجمالَ اليوسفي
أوْ لوْ رآهُ عائداً أيُّوبُ في سِنَة ِ الكَرَى ، قِدماً، من البَلوَى شُفي
كلُّ البدورِ إذا تجلَّى مقبلاً ، تَصبُو إلَيهِ، وكُلُّ قَدٍّ أهيَفِ
إنْ قُلْتُ:عِندي فيكَ كل صَبابة ٍ؛ قالَ:المَلاحة ُ لي، وكُلُّ الحُسْنِ في
كَمَلتْ مَحاسِنُهُ، فلو أهدى السّنا للبدرِ عندَ تمامهِ لمْ يخسفِ
وعلى تَفَنُّنِ واصِفيهِ بِحُسْنِهِ، يَفْنى الزّمانُ، وفيهِ ما لم يُوصَفِ
ولقدْ صرفتُ لحبِّهِ كلِّي على يدِ حسنهِ فحمدتُ حسنَ تصرُّفي
فالعينُ تهوى صورة َ الحسنِ الَّتي روحي بها تصبو إلى معنى ً خفي
أسْعِدْ أُخَيَّ، وغنِّ لي بِحَديثِهِ، وانثُرْ على سَمْعي حِلاهُ، وشَنِّفِ
لأرى بعينِ السّمعِ شاهِدَ حسْنِهِ معنى ً فأتحفني بذاكَ وشرِّفِ
يا أختَ سعدٍ منْ حبيبي جئتني بِرسالَة ٍ أدّيْتِها بتَلَطّفِ
فسمعتُ مالمْ تسمعي ونظرتُ ما لمْ تنظري وعرفتُ مالمْ تعرفي
إنْ زارَ، يوماً ياحَشايَ تَقَطَّعي، كَلَفاً بهِ، أو سارَ، يا عينُ اذرِفي
ما للنّوى ذّنْبٌ، ومَنْ أهوى مَعي، إنْ غابَ عنْ إنسانِ عيني فهوَ في