مثل صبيا [Mithl Sabeya] [English translation]

The likes of a young maiden, you don't see, even amongst those most artlessly beautiful of women who need no grooming*

Those maidens that scatter the jasmines at weddings, with Yemeni-style henna tattoos adorning their palms

With those really black and white eyes of theirs, betraying their trepidation under the kohl**

My concern is this sight would captivate the onlookers, eliciting deep-seated admiration

Oh, oh, Lord have mercy!

Let those of you quick to point fingers hold back their condemnation for my infatuation

For it was all brought on by a passing glance, after which my Lord has brought me to a time of trial, and hurled arrows at me

If it should happen that, for but once, my beloved should call upon me with attentiveness in their voice

I would forget myself, and all the grunts and whines; the infatuation I have cannot be contained

Oh, oh, Lord have mercy!

Many a time amidst the green hills and meadows of Jizan,

For solace, I have taken to writing poetry, of the bewitchment of childlike coyness and meandering

I ask the caravans of that one young maiden, and I feel no need of abandoning this life for the city

Except for love of those who inhabit it; in my heart, it cannot be contained

Oh, oh, Lord have mercy!