1. يا سجين الحياة أين الفرار

    أوصد الليل بابه والنهار

    O prisoner of life, where is escape?

    Night has barred its door, and so has day.

  2. فلمن لفتةٌ وفيم ارتقاب

    ليس بعد الذي انتظرت انتظار

    For whom, then, a glance, and for what this waiting?

    After what you have awaited, there is no further waiting.

  3. والتعلات من هوى وشباب

    قصة مسدل عليها الستار

    And the consolations of love and youth

    are a tale over which the curtain is drawn.

  4. ما الذي يبتغي العليل المسجى

    قد تولى العواد والسمار

    What does the ailing man, lying covered, seek?

    The sickbed visitors and night companions have departed.

  5. طال ليل الغريب وامتنع الغم

    ض وفي المضجع الغضا والنار

    The stranger's night has lengthened, and sleep is denied,

    and in his bed lie ghada wood and fire.

  6. وهَب السجن بابه صار حرا

    لكَ لا حائل ولا أسوار

    And suppose the prison door were freely open

    to you, with no barrier and no walls,

  7. وعفا القيد عنك كفاً وساقا

    فإذا الأرض كلها لك دار

    and the fetter released you, hand and leg,

    and behold, the whole earth is your home—

  8. أين أين الرحيل والتسيار

    بعدت شقة وشط مزار

    where, where are departure and wandering?

    The distance has lengthened, and the destination grown remote.

  9. والخطى المثقلات باليأس أغلا

    ل لساقيك والمشيب عثار

    And footsteps burdened with despair are fetters

    for your legs, and gray hair a stumbling block.

  10. ما انتفاع الفتى إذا عفت الجن

    نة واجتاح دوحها الإعصار

    What does the youth gain when the garden has vanished

    and a hurricane has ravaged its great trees?

  11. عشتُ حتى أرى خمائل حبي

    تتهاوى كشامخ ينهار

    I have lived to see the groves of my love

    tumble down like something towering that collapses,

  12. تحت عيني ويذبل الحسن فيها

    ويموت الربيع والأنوار

    before my eyes, and beauty wither within them,

    and spring and the blossoms die.

  13. ما انتفاع التي بموحش عيش

    بقيت كأسه وطاح العقار

    What does she gain from a desolate life,

    whose cup remains while the wine is gone?

  14. وبقاء البساط بعد الندامى

    كأس سم بها يدور البوار

    And the carpet left after the drinking companions are gone

    is a cup of poison in which ruin circulates.

  15. ما انتفاعي وتلك قافلة العي

    ش وفي ركبها اللظى والدمار

    What gain is mine, when that is the caravan of life,

    and in its train are blazing fire and destruction—

  16. الدمار الرهيب والعدم الشام

    ل واللفح والضنى والأوار

    terrible destruction and all-encompassing nothingness,

    and scorching blasts, wasting illness, and searing heat?

  17. يا ديار الحبيب هل كان حلما

    ملتقى دون موعد يا ديار

    O dwellings of the beloved, was it a dream—

    a meeting without appointment, O dwellings?

  18. يا عزيز الجنى عليك سلام

    كيف جادت بقربك الأقدار

    O you whose fruit is precious, peace be upon you.

    How did the fates bestow your nearness?

  19. بورك الكرم والقطوف وأوقا

    ت كأن العناق فيها اعتصار

    Blessed be the vine, the clusters, and the times

    when the embrace was like pressing out the juice.

  20. كلما أطلقتك كفي استردت

    ك كما يحفز الغريم الثار

    Whenever my hand released you, it reclaimed

    you, as vengeance spurs an adversary.