Translation (sung portion in bold):
On the day of parting they did not saddle the full-grown reddish-white camels until they had mounted the peacocks upon them,
Peacocks with murderous glances and sovereign power : thou wouldst fancy that each of them was a Bilqis on her throne of pearls.
When she walks on the glass pavement l thou seest a sun on a celestial sphere in the bosom of Idris.
When she kills with her glances, her speech restores to life, as tho’ she, in giving life thereby, were Jesus.
The smooth surface of her legs is (like) the Torah in brightness, and I follow it and tread in its footsteps as tho’ I were Moses.
She is a bishopess, one of the daughters of Rome, unadorned: thou seest in her a radiant Goodness.
Wild is she, none can tame her; she has gotten in her solitary chamber a mausoleum for remembrance.
She has baffled everyone who is learned in our religion, every student of the Psalms of David, every Jewish doctor, and every Christian priest.
If with a gesture she demands the Gospel, thou wouldst deem us to be priests and patriarchs and deacons.
The day when they departed on the road, I prepared for war the armies of my patience, host after host.
When my soul reached the throat (i.e. when I was at the point of death), I besought that Beauty and that Grace to grant me relief,
And she yielded, may God preserve us from her evil, and may the victorious king repel Iblis !
I exclaimed, when her she-camel set out to depart, “driver of the reddish-white camels, do not drive them away with her!”
translation from R.A. Nicholson’s edition of the Tarjuman al-ashwaq
Original:
ما رحلوا يوم بانوا البزل العيسا — الا وقد حملوا فيها الطواويسا
من كل فاتكة الالحاظ مالكــــــــة — تخالها فوق عرش الدر بلقيسا
اذا تمشت على صرح الزجاج ترى— شمسا على فلك في حجر ادريسا
تُحيي إذا قَتَـلت باللحـظِ , مَنــطِقَها
كأنها عندما تُحيي بهِ عِيسَــــــــى
تَوراتُها لَوحُ ســاقيها ســناً , وأنا
أتلو و أدرُسُها كأنّني مُوســــــــى
أُسْـقُفَة ٌ من بنــاتِ الرّومِ عاطِـلة ٌ
تَرى عليها من الأنوار ناموسَـــــــا
وحشـيّة ٌ ما بِها أُنْسٌ قد اتَّخَــذَتْ
في بيتِ خَلوتِها للذّكر نَاوُوســـــــــا
قـد أعـجَـزَتْ كـلّ عـلاّمٍ بِمـِلـّتـِنَا
وداوُديّاً , و حبراً ثمَّ قِســـّيســــــــا
إن أوْمأتْ تطلبُ الإنجيلَ تحسبُهَا
أقِسّة ً , أوْ بطاريقاً شمامِيســــــــــا