أطللت من نافذة الذكريات

على رياض القدم الحالمات

I gazed from the window of memories

I gazed out from the window of memories

Upon the gardens of the dreamy past

Upon the dreaming gardens of the past

و لي زمان عرضت لي به

أجمل حلم أبدعته الحياة

And I had a time when it presented to me

And recalled a time that displayed to me

The most beautiful dream that life created

The most beautiful dream life ever created

أركض في أمحائها لاهيا

مع الفراشات بمس النبات

I run in its glades distracted

I run through its expanse, playfully lost

With butterflies touching the plants

With the butterflies, touching the plants

وأسهر الليلة مع جدول

مرتعش للنسم الفاترات

And I stay up all night with a brook

And I stay up the night with a stream

Trembling for the faint breezes

Trembling at the touch of gentle breezes

يا لهفي إن وراء الربى

صوتا دعاني هو صوت الرعاة

Oh my craving, behind the hill

Oh, my sorrow! For behind the hills

There is a voice that called me, it is the voice of the shepherds

A voice called me; it is the voice of shepherds

و كيف آتيك جنان الهوى

يوما ودوني حجب مانعات

And how can I come to you, gardens of love

And how can I come to you, O gardens of passion

One day, while impassable veils are before me

One day, when forbidding veils stand between us?

دعا صباباتي لضفاته

غدير ذكرى مائج الأمنيات

My youth called me to its banks

A pool of memory, rippling with wishes

A stream of memories of wishes

Summoned my yearnings to its banks

حدقت في أمواجه ساعة

مستطلعا أغواره المبهمات

I stared for a while at its waves

I stared into its waves for a while

Examining its obscure depths

Exploring its obscure depths

أرى ظلال السحب تقبيله

مرت على جبهته في أناة

I see the shadows of clouds kissing it

I see the shadows of clouds kissing it

Passing by its forehead gently

Passing over its brow with slow patience

و السحب هل أنكرتها إنها

كانت نهيرا شاعري اللهاة

And would the clouds deny it? It was

And the clouds, have I denied them? They...

A roar of my ecstatic poet

Were once a little river with a poetic voice

ملء فروع الدوح ألحانه

سكرى على قرع كؤوس الحصاو

Its branches filled with melodies

Filling the branches of the great tree with melodies

Of drunkenness on the tapping of goblets

Drunken on the clinking of pebble cups

نمنا على أعشاب ضفاته

مختلسين القبل المسكرات

We slept on the grass of its banks

We slept upon the grass of its banks

Stealing intoxicating kisses

Stealing intoxicating kisses

نحو الغدير العذب مدت يدي

تلمس فيه السحب العائمات

Towards the sweet brook I stretched my hand

Toward the sweet stream, I reached out my hand

Touching in it the floating clouds

To touch the floating clouds within it

فانفجرت منها فقاعاته

في إثر أتراب لها سابقات

Bubbles burst out of them

Then its bubbles burst forth from it

Chasing others that preceded them

Following peers that had gone before

إني سمعت الحور في همسة

مسحورة أصداؤها عاتبات

I heard the nymphs in a spellbound whisper

I heard the nymphs in a whisper

Its echos reproachfully silent

Enchanted, their echoes chiding

تلك عقود الحور بعثرتها

فهل أتتك المتع الذاهبات

Those are the nymphs' necklaces scattered

"Those are the necklaces of nymphs you scattered,"

Did the fleeting pleasures come to you?

"So have the fleeting pleasures returned to you?"

و صرخة الأطفال من غوره

يا أيها القاسي فجرت الكرات

And the cry of children from its depth

And the cry of children from its depths:

O you harsh one, it burst into tears

"O cruel one, you have burst the spheres!"

ودوحة الذكرى تسلقتها

مجتذبا أغصانها المزهرات

And the tree of reminiscence I climbed

And the tree of memory, I climbed it

Pulling its flowering branches

Pulling at its flowering branches

مستقصيا ما بينها فجوة

تمر منها النسم الهائمات

Examining what crevices there are between them

Searching for a gap between them

Through which the wandering breezes pass

Through which the wandering breezes pass

أبصرت منها ذكريات الصبا

على نجيل المرج مستلقيات

I saw from it memories of my youth

I glimpsed from it the memories of youth

Lying on the meadow grass

Lying upon the meadow grass

و البحر يسعى دونها زافرا

فالموج آهات حطمن الصفاة

And the sea rushing below them growling

While the sea strives beneath them, heaving

So the wave is sighs that broke the vessels

For the waves are sighs that shattered the rocks

يا مرج هل تذكرني راعيا

أعبد فيك الله و الراعيات

Oh meadow, do you remember me as a shepherd

O meadow, do you remember me as a shepherd?

Worshipping God and the shepherdesses in you?

Worshipping God within you, and the shepherdesses

و البحر ما كان سوى جدول

ينير في الليل سبيل الرعاة

And the sea was but a brook

And the sea was nothing but a stream

Illuminating the shepherds’ way at night

Lighting the path for shepherds in the night

فما دهاه اليوم حتى غدا

ملحا أجاجا بعد عذب فرات

But what brought it today that it became

So what has befallen it today that it became

Brackish, bitter, after being a fresh Euphrates?

Salty and bitter after being fresh and sweet?

أحقبة نضجر من طولها

و إنها طرفة عين الحياة

Eras I resent for their length

Is it an era whose length we grow weary of?

Though they are a blink of the eye of life

Though it is but the blink of an eye in life

قالت الدوحة لا تبتئس

ستهبط المرج ففيم الشاكاة

The tree said: do not fret

The great tree said, "Do not despair,"

The meadow will descend, so why complain?

"You shall descend to the meadow, so why complain?"

هاك جناحين فطر وائته

و استوح فيه المتع الطارئات

The incidental pleasures in it

"Here are two wings, so fly and go to it"

And it offered between the tears of dew

"And seek within it the fleeting pleasures"

و قدمت بين دموع الندى

فرعين من أغصانها المورقات

Two of its branches bursting into leaves

And she presented, amidst tears of dew

Autumn sang the forest its melodies

Two branches from her leafy boughs

غنى الخريف الغاب ألحانه

فانتثرت أوراقه راقصات

So its leaves scattered dancing

Autumn sang its melodies to the woods

And before I could attain what I seek

So its leaves scattered, dancing

وقبل أن أدرك ما أبتغي

ذوي جناحاي مع الذاويات

My two wings were gone with the squandered

And before I could reach what I sought

My two wings withered along with the fading leaves