قطعوا من فؤادي الأوصالا

وجفوني وكنت أرجو الوصالا

They severed the limbs of my heart,

and shunned me, though I had hoped for union.

وسقوا مهجتي كؤس جفاهم

وأرادوا تقصير وجدي فطالا

They made my soul drink cups of their coldness,

and sought to shorten my yearning, but it grew longer.

وقضوا أنني أموت غراماً

في هواهم والصبر مني استحالا

They decreed that I should die of passionate love

for them, while patience became impossible for me.

علموا لوعتي ولهفة قلبي

وأنيني وأبعدوا الآمالا

They knew my anguish and my heart's longing,

and my moaning, yet drove my hopes far away.

قربوني وأبعدوني عنهم

وكسوا فكرتي العنا والخبالا

They drew me close and kept me far from them,

and clothed my thoughts in suffering and derangement.

وراوا أنني أسير هواهم

فرموني وأثقلوا الأغلالا

They saw that my love for them held me captive,

so they cast me away and made the shackles heavier.

فرقوني أجزاء سقم كما قد

حولوا من جميعي الأحوالا

They broke me into fragments of sickness, just as they had

changed the states of my entire being.

أتحفوني بالوعد لكن أعدوا

وعدهم لي بلية وملالا

They gifted me a promise, yet prepared

their promise for me as affliction and weariness.

سرقوا العقل والمدارك مني

وعتوا على شدوا العقالا

They stole my reason and faculties from me,

and lorded over me, tightening the tether.

وأحاطوا من كل وجهٍ بكلى

فبهم قد كلفت حالاً وقالا

They surrounded my whole being from every side,

so I became enamored of them in state and speech.

جرحوني ظلماً بسيف التعالي

حسبي اللَه ذو الجلال تعالى

They wounded me unjustly with the sword of arrogance.

Allah, Lord of Majesty, exalted be He, suffices me.

أنا والليل في هواهم كلانا

قطع الوقت خفيةً وانسلالا

The night and I, in loving them, both

passed the time in secrecy, slipping away.

ولقلبي والنار شأن عظيم

كل آنٍ لظاهما يتعالى

My heart and fire share a mighty affair:

at every moment their blaze rises higher.

ولدمعي والغيث برزخ بحر

من كنوز العمى تجارى وسالا

Between my tears and the rain lies a sea's barrier,

which streamed and flowed from the treasures of blindness.

ولهمي والدهر راهص كرب

ثقلاً باسه يزيل الجبالا

My sorrow and time share a crushing affliction,

so weighty that its might dislodges mountains.

وأنا فيهم الغريب المعنى

والعنا طال بي لهم واستطالا

Among them I am the tormented stranger,

and my suffering for them has lasted and grown longer.

أي يومٍ به السعادة تأتي

برضاهم عني وأكفى الوبالا

On what day will happiness come

through their pleasure with me, and I be spared calamity?

ليت شعري ما لذة العمر إلا

طيب لقياهم فخل الخيالا

Would that I knew! Life's delight is nothing but

the sweetness of meeting them—so abandon fantasy.

مدة العمر والحياة لعمري

مدة لا توازن الأفعالا

The span of life and living, by my life,

is a span that cannot measure up to deeds.

طيف طرف غفا ووارد فكر

في ضمير المسكين لج وجلا

A drowsing eye's vision, an arriving thought,

that entered the poor soul's heart and departed.

من يكن عمره كذاك فماذا ال

ألم المحض والليالي حبالى

For one whose life is thus, what of

sheer pain, while the nights are pregnant?

يا ظباء الرياض باللَه عطفاً

لمحب أورثتموه انذهالا

O gazelles of the gardens, by Allah, show kindness

to a lover to whom you bequeathed bewilderment,

بعيون لكم سحرتم بها النا

س ومعنى منها بعثتم نبالا

with eyes of yours with which you bewitched the

people, and with a meaning from them sent arrows forth;

وبتلك الذوائب السود إذ تل

وون أطرافها فتلوى الرجالا

and with those black tresses, when you

twist their tips, so that they twist men about.

كم لها من ذوائب في ثبات

حينما للقضاء مدت حبالا

How many tresses they have, held firm,

when they stretched out cords for fate!

وبلطف فيكم تكون جسماً

فتجسمتم من اللطف حالا

And through a grace within you that took bodily form,

you at once became embodiments of grace.

أنعموا لي فضلاً بنعمة وصل

تشف قلباً من لوعة الهجر زالا

Grant me, graciously, the blessing of union,

to heal a heart undone by separation's anguish.

إنني والغرام فيكم عليل

ولكم سادتي أبث السؤالا

I and love are ailing for you,

and to you, my masters, I pour out my plea.

لا تضيعوا عهد المحبة إني

ضعت وجداً فيكم وآهى طالا

Do not squander love's covenant; I

have wasted away with yearning for you, and my sigh has grown long.

والهوى قد هوى علي ببأس

صارع قد رأيت فيه خبالا

Love has fallen upon me with the might

of a wrestler; in it I have seen derangement.

قسماً بالوداد أني محب

لهم قط ما أردت انفتالا

I swear by affection that I am a lover

of them; never have I wished to turn away.

حال بعدى وحال قربي منهم

مخلص القلب ما تركت الحلالا

Whether far from them or near,

sincere of heart, I have not abandoned what is lawful.

كلما قلت يا عريب أغيثوا

بوصال قالوا مع العجب لالا

Whenever I said, 'O dear Arabs, come to my aid

with union,' they said with conceit, 'No, no.'

فتكوا في الفؤاد فتكة عضب

جر في ساحة الضمير نصالا

They struck my heart with a keen sword's deadly stroke,

dragging blades across the courtyard of the soul.

كلما أقبلوا بقلبي ساروا

وإذا أعرضوا سقوه النكالا

Whenever they approached, they carried my heart along;

and when they turned away, they made it drink torment.

وإذا ما خطوا على كل أرض

سحبوا في ضميري الأذيالا

Whenever they stepped upon any land,

they trailed their hems through my inward heart.

نيتي في طريقهم باعتقادي

هي لا بد تصلح الأحوالا

My intention upon their path, I believe,

will surely set things right.

فعليهم مني السلام وإن هم

قطعوا من فؤادي الأوصالا

So peace from me be upon them, even though they

have severed the limbs of my heart.