1. يا زهرة الروض ما لي

    أَراكَ فَوقَ اللحود

    O flower of the garden, why do I

    see you above the graves?

  2. وَطالَما عفت قَبلا

    حَتّى رياض الخدود

    And so often before you spurned

    even the gardens of cheeks.

  3. يا زهرة جندَلوها

    حَتّى بَكاها القَضيب

    O flower they laid low,

    till even the branch wept for her!

  4. يا لَيتهم صدروها

    اين المقام يَطيب

    Oh, if only they had sent her away

    where dwelling is pleasant,

  5. حيث الأَحِبَّة يَرمي

    بها الحَبيب الحَبيب

    where lovers are, she is tossed

    by the lover to the beloved.

  6. وجودها لَيسَ فيه

    غير الرضى بالوجود

    Her existence holds nothing

    but contentment with existence.

  7. وان اردت شهودا

    فالحب بعض الشهود

    And if you desire witnesses,

    then love is one of the witnesses.

  8. لا تَبعَثي الطيب اني

    اراكَ زينة نعش

    Do not waft your fragrance, for I

    see you as an adornment for a bier.

  9. لديك جسم وَلكن

    به إِلى القَبر نَمشي

    Beside you is a body, and yet

    with it we walk to the grave,

  10. اين الفؤوس احالَت

    ما بعثرته لرفش

    where the pickaxes have handed over

    what they scattered to a shovel.

  11. فَلا تَكوني جمالا

    عَلى صدور الرقود

    So do not be an adornment

    upon the chests of the sleepers.

  12. وانت اجمل وقع

    اليكَ بينَ النهود

    And you make a lovelier impression—

    off with you, between breasts!

  13. هَل ملك الحي حَتّى

    رايت في الميت اهلا

    Have the living grown weary of you, so that

    you saw kin in the dead?

  14. أَم هَل وجدت لديه

    عيش السَكينة سهلا

    Or have you found with him

    an easy life of tranquillity?

  15. مَهلا وَلا تفجعينا

    بما توخيت مهلا

    Wait, and do not bring us grief

    with what you intended—wait!

  16. وان اردت انتقالا

    إِلى نَعيم الخلود

    And if you desire passage

    to the bliss of immortality,

  17. فَحدثي عَن شَبابي

    وَعَن يَدي في القيود

    then tell of my youth

    and of my hand in chains.