فإن كان هذا البعد تأديب مذنب

فإن كان هذا البعد تأديب مذنب

فإنّا بهذا القدر صرنا على شفا

فإنّا بهذا القدر صرنا على شفا

For if this separation is a sinner’s chastisement,

If this distance is to chastise a sinner

If this separation is meant as the discipline of a sinner,

then this much has brought us to the brink.

Then we are now, by this much, on the mend

Then by this measure, we have truly reached the very brink.

وإنا لنخشى إن تطاول بعدُكم

وإنا لنخشى إن تطاول بعدُكم

يصير لكم سلوى فلا يرتجى شفا

يصير لكم سلوى فلا يرتجى شفا

And indeed we fear that, if your absence grows long,

And we fear, if you stay away for longer

And indeed we fear that should your distance persist,

it will become consolation for you, leaving no hope of healing.

There will be no cure, recovery's end

It will become a consolation to you, leaving no hope for a cure.

فمنّوا بلقياكم وإلا فلا بقا

فمنّوا بلقياكم وإلا فلا بقا

وريح الفنا تسفي علينا إذا سفا

وريح الفنا تسفي علينا إذا سفا

So grant us a meeting with you; otherwise there is no survival,

So grace us with a visit, else no survival

So grant the favor of your meeting, otherwise there is no survival,

and the wind of annihilation scatters dust over us whenever it blows.

The winds of oblivion blow when you're not near

For the wind of annihilation scatters dust upon us when it blows.