[The girl with the gazelle neck]

translated from the Arabic by Abdullah al-Udhari 

1 
The girl with the gazelle neck is here and longs to meet you. 

2
I wonder if she’ll be graced with a welcome or told you’re indisposed?

 

زائر قد أتى بجيد غزال طامع من مُحبّه بالوصالِ أتراكم بإذنكم مسعفيه أم لكم شاغلٌ من الأشغالِ  

Credit

“[The girl with the gazelle neck]” by Hafsa bint al-Ḥājj al-Rakūniyya is published in Classical Poems by Arab Women: A Bilingual Anthology by Abdullah al-Udhari (Saqi Books, 1991). Used with the permission of Saqi Books.