كلُّ الهوى صعبٌ ولكنَّني

كلُّ الهوى صعبٌ ولكنَّني

بُليتُ بالأصعب من أَصعبهْ

بُليتُ بالأصعب من أَصعبهْ

All love is hard, but I

All passion is difficult, but I

have been afflicted with something harder than its hardest.

Have suffered the most difficult of the difficult.

أذابَني الحبُّ فلو زُجَّ بي

أذابَني الحبُّ فلو زُجَّ بي

في ناظر النائم لم يَنتِبهْ

في ناظر النائم لم يَنتِبهْ

Love has melted me away; were I thrust

Love melted me, so if I were cast

into a sleeper’s pupil, he would not wake.

Into a sleeper's eyes, he would not awaken.

وكان لي قبل الهوى خاتمٌ

وكان لي قبل الهوى خاتمٌ

فالآن لو شئتُ تمنطقتُ بِهْ

فالآن لو شئتُ تمنطقتُ بِهْ

And before love, I had a ring;

And I used to have a ring,

so now, if I wished, I could wear it as a belt.

But now, if I wished, I could be threaded through it.

وزارني طيفُك حتى إذا

وزارني طيفُك حتى إذا

أراد أن يمضي تعلَّقتُ بِهْ

أراد أن يمضي تعلَّقتُ بِهْ

And your phantom visited me; when at last

And your apparition visited me, until

it wished to depart, I clung to it.

When it wanted to leave, I clung to it.

يا مَن إذا أقبل قال الورى

يا مَن إذا أقبل قال الورى

هذا أمير الحسن في موكبِهْ

هذا أمير الحسن في موكبِهْ

O you at whose approach the people say:

O you who, when you come, people say

"This is the prince of beauty in his procession!"

“This is the prince of beauty in his procession.”

عبدك لا تسأل عن حالِهِ

عبدك لا تسأل عن حالِهِ

حَلَّ بأعدائك ما حلَّ بِهْ

حَلَّ بأعدائك ما حلَّ بِهْ

Your slave—do not ask about his plight;

Your slave, do not ask about his state -

may what befell him befall your enemies!

What has befallen your enemies has befallen him.