1. جلا عني سلامك يا خليلي

    من الأشجان ما يقذى الجفونا

    Your greeting, my dear friend, has dispelled from me

    the sorrows that chafe the eyelids.

  2. أكاد أرى بها صبحي ظلاما

    وأسباب الأماني لي منونا

    Because of them, I almost see my morning as darkness,

    and the means to fulfill my hopes as my doom.

  3. فكم من مؤنس فارقت رغما

    وكم من موحش القى قرينا

    How many a congenial companion I have left against my will,

    and how many an uncongenial soul I encounter as a companion.

  4. وكم من مأرب قد ند عني

    وغادرني ائن له انينا

    And how many a desire has slipped away from me

    and left me groaning for it.

  5. وما انا واجد في الناس طرا

    على وطري واشجاني معينا

    And among all people I find no one

    to help me with my desire and my sorrows:

  6. فاما قابض كفيه لؤما

    واما مفلت دنيا ودينا

    either one clenches both hands out of meanness,

    or one is unrestrained in worldly life and religion.

  7. كأن الناس قد صاروا ذئابا

    تنوش الغث نوشا والسمينا

    It is as though people have turned into wolves

    that snatch at the lean and the fat alike.

  8. اذا اوهمت ان بهم قمينا

    بخير عاد من امم قمينا

    If you are led to think that one among them is worthy

    of good, at close quarters he turns into a kiln.

  9. وان تقصد بساحتهم خدينا

    تصادفه دخانا او اتونا

    And if you seek an intimate friend in their courtyard,

    you find him to be smoke or a furnace.

  10. كأن الهجر عندهم ادام

    ومن وضر الخنى وردوا معينا

    It is as though estrangement were their relish,

    and they have come to drink from a flowing spring of obscene filth.

  11. اذا باعدتهم هاجوا جنونا

    وان دانيتهم ماجوا مجونا

    If you keep them at a distance, they erupt in madness,

    and if you draw close to them, they surge with wantonness.

  12. يحارب دهرنا من كان سلما

    ويختان الذي يبقى امينا

    Our age wages war on whoever is peaceable,

    and betrays whoever remains trustworthy.

  13. وذلك دأبه فينا قديما

    فلا تعجب لفعل كان دينا

    Such has long been its habit with us,

    so do not marvel at an act that is its custom.

  14. اراك دريت شاني راثيالي

    فهل ادراك ما اجرى الشؤونا

    I see you have learned my plight and pity me;

    but has it told you what set the tears flowing?

  15. بعاد احبتي عني واني

    احن إلى وصالهم حنينا

    It is my loved ones' distance from me; and I

    yearn deeply for reunion with them.

  16. اراني بعد فرقتهم

    كآبة والد فقد البنينا

    I find myself, after parting from them,

    with the grief of a father who has lost his sons.

  17. فما بي في نهاري من حراك

    ولا في ليلتي القى سكونا

    So in my day I do not stir,

    nor in my night do I find repose.

  18. فيا طول ائتراقي واحتراقي

    على بعد الاحبة اجمعينا

    Oh, how long my sleeplessness and burning endure

    over separation from all my loved ones!

  19. وانت اعزهم عندي مقاما

    فدم بالله معتصما مصونا

    And you hold the dearest place among them in my regard,

    so remain holding fast to God, protected.