امرؤ القيس - Imru' al qais
وجِـيْدٍ كَجِيْدِ الرِّئْمِ لَيْسَ بِفَاحِـشٍ
إِذَا هِـيَ نَصَّتْـهُ وَلاَ بِمُعَطَّــلِ
وفَـرْعٍ يَزِيْنُ المَتْنَ أسْوَدَ فَاحِــمٍ
أثِيْـثٍ كَقِـنْوِ النَّخْلَةِ المُتَعَثْكِــلِ
غَـدَائِرُهُ مُسْتَشْزِرَاتٌ إلَى العُــلاَ
تَضِلُّ العِقَاصُ فِي مُثَنَّى وَمُرْسَــلِ
English translation from W.A. Clauston’s “Arabic Poetry”, 1881:
Her neck was like that of a milk-white hind, but, when she raised it, exceeded not the justest symmetry; nor was the neck of my beloved so unadorned.
Her long coal-black hair decorated her back, thick and diffused, like bunches of dates clustering on the palm-tree.
Her locks were elegantly turned above her head; and the riband which bound them was lost in her tresses, part braided, part dishevelled.