معذبتي رفقا بقلب معذب

Poem Translation:

O torturer of hearts, have pity, I implore,
Yet if my pain delights you, hurt me more.
By heaven, you’ve distanced me with strange disdain,
As I have sought you out, but all in vain.
A moon you are, that dims the moon’s own light,
A sun whose rise makes other suns take flight.
If such a beauty had to Qays appeared,
He’d not have called for Jundub, as he neared.

Poem Explanation:

In this brief yet poignant poem, Ibn Abd Rabbih expresses his deep torment caused by unrequited love. He pleads with his beloved to show mercy to his already tortured heart but, at the same time, paradoxically accepts her cruelty if it brings her joy. This highlights the depth of his devotion and submission to his beloved’s will.

The poet then reflects on the irrational distance she keeps from him despite his efforts to draw nearer, contrasting the unnaturalness of this separation. He elevates his beloved’s beauty to that of a celestial body, claiming she outshines both the moon and the sun. In the final line, he compares her to the beloved of the famous poet Imru’ al-Qays, asserting that if Imru’ al-Qays had seen her, he would have forgotten his own beloved, Umm Jundub.