يا عَمروُ مَن لَم يَختَنِق

يا عَمروُ مَن لَم يَختَنِق

بِالبَينِ لَم يَختَنِقِ

بِالبَينِ لَم يَختَنِقِ

O ʿAmr, whoever has not choked

O Amro, he who has not been choked

O 'Amr, whoever does not suffocate

on separation has never choked.

By separation, has not been choked

From the grief of parting, has never truly suffocated.

أَيُّ فَتىً في أُفُقٍ

أَيُّ فَتىً في أُفُقٍ

وَروحُهُ في أُفُقِ

وَروحُهُ في أُفُقِ

What a youth—at one horizon,

What young man with prospects broad

What a youth is he, existing in one horizon,

while his soul is at another!

Whose soul lies in the wider world

While his spirit dwells in another!

وَلَم يُرِحهُ قَلَقٌ

وَلَم يُرِحهُ قَلَقٌ

حَتّى غَدا ذا قَلَقِ

حَتّى غَدا ذا قَلَقِ

And restlessness gave him no rest,

Has not been vexed by disquiet

Anxiety granted him no respite,

until he became restless.

Until he lives in constant fret?

Until he became anxiety itself.

يا عَمروُ لا لاقَيتَ ما

يا عَمروُ لا لاقَيتَ ما

لاقَيتُ مِن مُنطَلَقي

لاقَيتُ مِن مُنطَلَقي

O ʿAmr, may you never face what

O Amro, since the day I left

O 'Amr, may you never encounter what

I have faced since my departure.

The home where lived that patchwork tent

I encountered upon my departure.

ما سِرتُ مُذ جاوَزتُ مي

ما سِرتُ مُذ جاوَزتُ مي

لاً دارَ ذاكَ الخَرِقُ

لاً دارَ ذاكَ الخَرِقُ

I have not traveled since going a mile

And traveled on, I've not one night

I have not journeyed since passing the mile

beyond that clumsy fellow's house,

Spent without love beckoning me

Of that noble youth's abode,

إِلّا وَداعي حُبِّهِ

إِلّا وَداعي حُبِّهِ

يَثني إِلَيهِ عُنُقي

يَثني إِلَيهِ عُنُقي

without the call of love for him

To turn my neck back to his land.

But that the summoner of his love

turning my neck toward him.

Turns my neck back towards him.