1. إلى الصديق خفاجفي عوالمه

    ما بين شاهق أبحاث وأسفار

    To the friend Khafaji, in his worlds,

    amid towering research and tomes,

  2. أبثّ من لوعتي ما فاض عن كلمي

    وإن تحجب في مكنوز إضماري

    I pour out of my anguish what has overflowed beyond my words,

    though it is veiled in the hoard of my hidden thoughts.

  3. تجمّعت غصص الدنيا وما فتئت

    حربا عليّ وعادتني لإيثاري

    The world's choking sorrows have gathered, and remain

    at war against me, hostile to me for my selflessness.

  4. فإن أعش في جنان كلها عجب

    فإن قلبي بالتعذيب في النار

    For even if I live in gardens wholly filled with wonder,

    my heart, under torture, is in the fire.

  5. قد ضيّعت عصبة للنقل مكتبتي

    يا عصبة النقل قد خلدت في العار

    A crew of movers has ruined my library;

    O crew of movers, you are immortalized in disgrace.

  6. وضيع النقل رزقا كان لي سندا

    كأنما الدهر مشغول بإفقاري

    And the move destroyed a livelihood that had sustained me,

    as though Time were busy impoverishing me.

  7. وضيع الهم نزرا كان عافيتي

    فما انتفعت بسكان ولا جار

    And worry destroyed the scant remnant of my health;

    so neither residents nor a neighbor were of any help to me.

  8. وصار ديني رفيقا لا يفارقني

    وكان ودّعه أو كاد إنذاري

    And my debt became a companion that never leaves me,

    and my warning had bidden it farewell—or nearly so.

  9. وإذ عرضت لبيع كل ما ملكت

    يدي خذلت كما قد ضيعوا داري

    And when I offered for sale all that

    my hand possessed, I was let down, just as they had ruined my home.

  10. أنا المعاقب لا ذنب جنيت سوى

    بري كأن عظيم الذنب آثاري

    I am the one punished; I committed no sin except

    my kindness—as though my works were a grave sin.

  11. ومن عجيب إذا ما الحزن يغمرني

    لطمته مثل سباح بتيار

    And strangely, whenever sorrow engulfs me,

    I slap it, like a swimmer in a current.

  12. لم أدر هل جن قلبي فثي تفاؤله

    أم ما درى خطبه أم أنه الداري

    I do not know whether my heart has gone mad in its optimism,

    or is unaware of its plight—or is the one that knows.

  13. لقد تمرست عمري بالأسى فغدا

    مني ومد الأسى عمري لأعمار

    All my life I have grappled with sorrow, until it became

    part of me; and sorrow stretched my life into lifetimes.

  14. لمن أعذب ما جدواي من زمني

    وما حياتي ومن يعنيه إكباري

    For whom am I tormented? What do I gain from my time?

    And what is my life? Who cares about honoring me?

  15. لج المراقب في شطب لأفكاري

    ما كان أولاه تثقيفا بأفكاري

    The censor persisted in crossing out my ideas;

    how much better it would have been for him to learn from my ideas!

  16. إن الخيانة للأوطان أخطرها

    حجر على الحق أو إرهاق أحرار

    Indeed, the most dangerous betrayal of homelands

    is suppressing truth or oppressing free people;

  17. وترك مثلي يعاني في تحرقه

    عار على الجيل لا ذنبي ولا عاري

    and leaving one like me to suffer in his burning anguish

    is a disgrace to the generation—not my fault, nor my shame.