كأنّما الأفق لمّا شمسهُ غربت

كأنّما الأفق لمّا شمسهُ غربت

واللّيل يشمل درَّ الشهب مسدَفهُ

واللّيل يشمل درَّ الشهب مسدَفهُ

As though the horizon, when its sun had set,

As though when its sun had set on the horizon

and night's darkness enfolded the pearls of the stars,

And the night enfolded the falling stars in its cloak,

صبٌّ تردّى بأفواه الأسى فبكى

صبٌّ تردّى بأفواه الأسى فبكى

بدمع يعقوبَ لمّا غابَ يوسفهُ

بدمع يعقوبَ لمّا غابَ يوسفهُ

were a lovesick lover, cloaked in the mouths of grief, who wept

A pouring of sorrows from the mouths of woes wept

with Jacob's tears when his Joseph was gone.

With Jacob's tears when Joseph his son was lost