تذكرتُ وشك البين قبل حلوله

تذكرتُ وشك البين قبل حلوله

فجادت عيوني بالدموع على الخد

فجادت عيوني بالدموع على الخد

I recalled the imminence of parting before it came;

I recalled the imminent separation and my eyes overflowed with tears

I remembered the imminence of parting before it befell,

so my eyes poured tears upon my cheek.

While in my heart raged fires, burning hot through my bones to my skin

So my eyes flowed freely with tears upon my cheek.

وفي القلب نيرانٌ تأجّج حرّها

وفي القلب نيرانٌ تأجّج حرّها

سرت في عظامي ثم صارت إلى جلدي

سرت في عظامي ثم صارت إلى جلدي

And in my heart were fires whose heat blazed;

I've no soul able to bear their loss-

And within my heart are fires whose heat has raged,

they coursed through my bones, then reached my skin.

Oh, would that to the grave I'd gone before this home!

Coursing through my bones, then reaching to my skin.

وما لي نفس تستطيع فراقهم

وما لي نفس تستطيع فراقهم

فيا ليت قبل البيت سارت إلى اللحد

فيا ليت قبل البيت سارت إلى اللحد

And my soul cannot bear parting from them.

To God I complain of the blows of fate-

I possess no soul capable of bearing their separation;

So, if only it had journeyed to the grave before [reaching] the house.

A heavy burden no hands can carry.

Oh, would that it had journeyed to the grave before leaving home.

إلى اللّه أشكو ما ألاقي من النوى

إلى اللّه أشكو ما ألاقي من النوى

وحملي ثقيل لا تقوم به الأيدي

وحملي ثقيل لا تقوم به الأيدي

To God I complain of what I suffer from separation;

In Taybah was a life so sweet, now bitter to the taste-

To God I complain of the torment of distance I face,

and my burden is heavy; no hands can lift it.

Ill-fortune nursed at good fortune's breast!

For my burden is heavy, and no hands can sustain it.

بطيبة طاب العيش ثم تمرّرت

بطيبة طاب العيش ثم تمرّرت

حلاوته فالنحس أربى على السعد

حلاوته فالنحس أربى على السعد

In Taybah life was sweet; then turned bitter

I glance between Wadi-`Uqayq and her dear home,

In Tayba life was pleasant, but then it turned bitter—

its sweetness, for ill fortune outweighed good fortune.

Then turn aside, distraught, to neither road nor stead.

Its very sweetness gone, for misfortune has outweighed good fortune.

أردّد طرفي بين وادي عقيقها

أردّد طرفي بين وادي عقيقها

وبين قبا ها ثم ألوي إلى أحد

وبين قبا ها ثم ألوي إلى أحد

I turn my gaze back and forth between her valley of al-Aqiq

The dwellings of her I loved as child, as youth,

I cast my gaze between the valley of its al-'Aqiq,

and her Quba, then turn toward Uhud—

As man, till with white hairs grayed, in the cold of life.

And its Quba, then I turn towards Mount Uhud—

منازل من أهواه طفلاً ويافعاً

منازل من أهواه طفلاً ويافعاً

وكهلا إلى أن صرت بالشيب في برد

وكهلا إلى أن صرت بالشيب في برد

the dwellings of the one I have loved in childhood and youth,

The dwellings of the one I have loved since childhood and youth,

and in middle age, until I wore a cloak of gray hair.

And through maturity, until I became cloaked in the gray of age.