تَراءَى لهُ أفْقُ البُحَيرَةِ والبَحْرِ

تَراءَى لهُ أفْقُ البُحَيرَةِ والبَحْرِ

فَراحَ بِمَاءِ القَلْبِ مُخْتَضِبَ النحْرِ

فَراحَ بِمَاءِ القَلْبِ مُخْتَضِبَ النحْرِ

Before him appeared the horizon of lake and sea,

The horizon of the lake and the sea appeared to him,

and he departed, his throat stained with his heart’s blood.

So he went, his breast stained with the water of his heart.

وَقَدْ مَنَعَ التَّهْويمَ أَنِّيَ هَائِمٌ

وَقَدْ مَنَعَ التَّهْويمَ أَنِّيَ هَائِمٌ

بِعَيْشٍ مَضَى بَينَ الرُّصَافَةِ والجَسْرِ

بِعَيْشٍ مَضَى بَينَ الرُّصَافَةِ والجَسْرِ

Yet light slumber kept him from knowing I am enamored

And my longing has kept me from dozing,

of a life gone by between al-Rusafa and the Bridge—

For a life gone by between al-Rusafa and the bridge,

وَجَنَّةِ دُنيا لا نَظِيرَ لحُسْنِها

وَجَنَّةِ دُنيا لا نَظِيرَ لحُسْنِها

تَفَجَّرتِ الأَنْهَارُ مِنْ تَحْتِها تَجْرِي

تَفَجَّرتِ الأَنْهَارُ مِنْ تَحْتِها تَجْرِي

a paradise in this world, whose beauty has no peer,

And an earthly paradise whose beauty has no equal:

beneath which rivers burst forth, running.

Rivers burst forth, flowing from beneath it.

إِذَا النَّاسُ حَنُّوا لِلرَّبيعِ وَجَدْتُنا

إِذَا النَّاسُ حَنُّوا لِلرَّبيعِ وَجَدْتُنا

بِها في رَبيع كلِّ حُسن مِن الزَّهْرِ

بِها في رَبيع كلِّ حُسن مِن الزَّهْرِ

When people longed for spring, you would find us

When people longed for spring, I found us

there, in a spring of every loveliness of blossom.

There in a spring of all that is lovely among blossoms.

تَهبُّ نُعَامَاهَا فَيُفَغِمُ أَنْفَنَا

تَهبُّ نُعَامَاهَا فَيُفَغِمُ أَنْفَنَا

بِأَنْفاسِها المَلذوذَةِ البَرْدُ فِي البَحْرِ

بِأَنْفاسِها المَلذوذَةِ البَرْدُ فِي البَحْرِ

Its gentle breezes would blow and fill our nostrils

Its south wind blows, and our nostrils are filled

with their breaths, blended with the coolness of the sea.

With its delightful breaths by the coolness at sea.

كَأَنِّيَ مِنْ قَلْبِي المُتَيَّمِ قَادِحٌ

كَأَنِّيَ مِنْ قَلْبِي المُتَيَّمِ قَادِحٌ

عَفَاراً لِتِذْكَارِي لكُثْبَانِها العُفْرِ

عَفَاراً لِتِذْكَارِي لكُثْبَانِها العُفْرِ

As though, from my love-enslaved heart, I were striking

As though I were striking sparks from my love-enslaved heart,

ʿafār tinder at the memory of its tawny dunes,

With ʿafār-wood, remembering its tawny dunes,

وَأَيَّامِيَ الزُّهرِ الوُجُوهِ خِلالَهَا

وَأَيَّامِيَ الزُّهرِ الوُجُوهِ خِلالَهَا

وَلا خُلَّةٌ غَيْرَ الحَديقَةِ وَالنَّهْرِ

وَلا خُلَّةٌ غَيْرَ الحَديقَةِ وَالنَّهْرِ

and of my radiant, bright-faced days among them,

And my bright-faced days within it,

with no intimate companion but garden and river.

And with no companion but the garden and the river.

فَمِنْ بكراتٍ أدْبَرَتْ وأَصَائِلٍ

فَمِنْ بكراتٍ أدْبَرَتْ وأَصَائِلٍ

جَنَيْتُ بِها الإقْبَالَ في غُرَّةِ العُمْرِ

جَنَيْتُ بِها الإقْبَالَ في غُرَّةِ العُمْرِ

How many vanished mornings and evenings

So from mornings gone by and late afternoons

in which I reaped good fortune in life’s first flush—

I reaped good fortune in them at the dawn of life.

عَشَايا كَسَاها التِّبْرُ فَضْلَ شُنُوفِهِ

عَشَايا كَسَاها التِّبْرُ فَضْلَ شُنُوفِهِ

أَلا يَا لَهَا فَضلُ الشنُوفِ عَلَى التِّبْرِ

أَلا يَا لَهَا فَضلُ الشنُوفِ عَلَى التِّبْرِ

evenings that raw gold clothed in what remained of its earrings;

Evenings that raw gold clothed in the surplus of its earrings—

ah, how earrings surpass raw gold itself!

Ah, theirs is the superiority of earrings over raw gold!