وجاءَ لا جاءَ الدُجى كأنَّه

وجاءَ لا جاءَ الدُجى كأنَّه

من طَلعَةِ الواشي وَوَجهِ المُرتقب

من طَلعَةِ الواشي وَوَجهِ المُرتقب

And night came—may it never come!—as though it were

And night came, it came not as it usually does

made of the informer's countenance and the watcher's face.

Like the dawn of Al-Washi and the face of the expectant one

وفَعَلَ الظلامُ بالضياءِ ما

وفَعَلَ الظلامُ بالضياءِ ما

يَفعَلُهُ الحُرفُ بأَبناءِ الأَدَب

يَفعَلُهُ الحُرفُ بأَبناءِ الأَدَب

And darkness did to the light what

And darkness did to light what

ill fortune does to men of letters.

Letters do to the literary minded