1. تعالَ نزفُّ للثغرِ السلامَا

    ألستَ تَرَى على الثغرِ ابتسامَا

    Come, let us bring the harbor city greetings.

    Do you not see a smile upon its lips?

  2. ألم تشعر كأن يَدَي عزيزٍ

    مَسَحنَ لك المواجعَ والسقاما

    Did you not feel as though a loved one's hands

    had wiped away your aches and sickness?

  3. كأن خُطى العبابِ خطى حبيبٍ

    كأنَّ الموجَ أفئدةٌ تَرامى

    As though the billows' footsteps were a beloved's,

    as though the waves were hearts flinging themselves forth.

  4. سلاماً يا عروسَ الماء إني

    أحبُّكِ لا أملُّ بكِ المقاما

    Greetings, O bride of the waters! I

    love you; I never tire of dwelling with you.

  5. أسيرُ إِلى لقائكِ نِضوَ شوقٍ

    وأرجعُ عن ربوعكِ مستهاما

    I walk to meet you, worn thin by longing,

    and return from your haunts love-stricken.

  6. أراكِ فتنتشي روحي وقلبي

    كأني قد سُقِيتُ بك المدَاما

    I see you, and my soul and heart grow rapt,

    as though through you I had been given wine to drink.

  7. وإن طُوِيَ البساطُ فنصبَ عيني

    عليكِ خيالُ أحبائي القدامى

    And though the carpet has been rolled up, I see before me

    upon you the image of my loved ones of old.

  8. وإن طاحَ الزمانُ بكأس حبي

    فلا الساقي نسيتُ ولا الندامى

    And though time has toppled the cup of my love,

    I have forgotten neither the cupbearer nor my drinking companions.

  9. فؤادي قم بنا نذكر شجانا

    لصخرٍ في جوارِ المكسِ قاما

    My heart, arise; let us recount our sorrow

    to a rock standing near al-Maks.

  10. تعالَ ولا تقل هذا جمادٌ

    وكيفَ ترومُ بالصخرِ اعتصاما

    Come, and do not say, “This is lifeless stone—

    and how can you seek refuge in rock?”

  11. فكم في الحيِّ من قلبٍ أصمّ

    تَنَكَّرَ أو تَجَاهَلَ أو تعامى

    For many a heart among the living is deaf:

    it has turned away, feigned ignorance, or feigned blindness.

  12. وكم صخرٍ أحسَّ بما عنانا

    وما عَرَفَ الحديثَ ولا الكلاما

    And many a rock has felt what troubled us,

    though it has known neither conversation nor speech.

  13. وكم في الناسِ من رجلٍ قويٍّ

    شديدِ البأسِ يقتحمُ اقتحاما

    And many a strong man among the people,

    mighty in valor, charging headlong,

  14. تَعرَّضَ للحوادث لا يبالي

    تَلقَّاها نصالاً أم سهاما

    has faced calamities, caring nothing

    whether he met them as blades or arrows.

  15. فإِن عَرضت له الذكرُ الخوالي

    رأيتَ الكونَ في عينيه غاما

    Yet if bygone memories come before him,

    you see the universe cloud over in his eyes.

  16. عرته الرجفةُ الكبرى وراحت

    جيوشُ الصبرِ تنهزمُ انهزاما

    A mighty trembling seizes him, and off go

    the armies of patience, fleeing in utter defeat.

  17. بربكِ أيها الأنوارُ ماذا

    صنعتِ بساهرٍ ألِفَ الظلاما

    By your Lord, O lights, what

    have you done to a wakeful man accustomed to darkness?

  18. بربك أيها الأمواجُ ظلَّت

    على الشطئانِ ترتطمُ ارتطاما

    By your Lord, O waves that kept

    crashing hard against the shores!

  19. أتيتُكِ أبتغي منك التأسِّي

    وأَنشدُ في نواحيك السلاما

    I came to you seeking consolation from you,

    and seeking peace throughout your reaches.

  20. أراكِ فتحتِ لي شجناً جديداً

    وكنتُ أرومُ للماضي التئاما

    I find you have opened a new sorrow for me,

    when I was seeking healing for the past.

  21. وَهَيتُ وخانني جَلَدِي وإلا

    فهذي الدمعةُ الحرَّى علاما

    I have weakened, and my endurance has betrayed me; otherwise,

    why, then, this burning tear?

  22. أيا بلدَ التأسي كيف أنسَى

    زماني فيكِ كهلاً أو غلاما

    O land of consolation, how could I forget

    my days with you, in middle age or boyhood,

  23. ويومَ أتيتُ مكتئباً عليلاً

    أحسُّ البَينَ يدنو والحِماما

    and the day I came, dejected and ailing,

    feeling parting and death draw near,

  24. أجرجرُ فيكِ أقداماً ثقالاً

    وأجمعُ مِن عزيمتيَ الحطاما

    dragging heavy feet through you,

    and gathering the wreckage of my resolve?

  25. وعلاتي وأدوائي كبارٌ

    شربنَ دمي وأبلَينَ العظاما

    And my ailments and diseases were grave;

    they drank my blood and wore my bones away.

  26. أراكِ فلا أبالي بالمنايا

    وأَحمدُ عند شاطئكِ الختاما

    I see you, and care nothing for death,

    and bless the end beside your shore.

  27. وكم طافَ الرفاقُ وغادروني

    كَعُوَّادٍ ومروا بي كراما

    And often my companions came round and left me,

    like visitors to the sick, passing graciously by me.

  28. تمرُّ بيَ الحياةُ ولستُ أدري

    أيومٌ مرَّ أم قضَّيتُ عاما

    Life passes me by, and I cannot tell

    whether a day has passed or I have spent a year.

  29. عرفتك والشتاءُ يمدُّ ظلا

    وينشر في جوانبكِ الغماما

    I have known you as winter stretches out its shadow

    and spreads clouds along your sides.

  30. عرفتكِ والمصيفُ عليكِ زاهٍ

    وقرنُ الشمسِ يضطرمُ اضطراما

    I have known you with summer radiant upon you,

    and the sun's horn blazing fiercely.

  31. عرفتكِ والعواصفُ فيك غضبى

    نشرنَ على مُحَيَّاكِ القتاما

    I have known you with storms raging within you,

    spreading a dusty gloom across your face.

  32. عرفتك والفلائكُ فيك بيضٌ

    مجنحةٌ يحاكينَ الحَماما

    I have known you with white skiffs upon you,

    winged, mimicking doves.

  33. عرفتكِ هادئاً والفجر غافٍ

    كأَنَّ البحر وَسَّدَه فناما

    I have known you calm, while dawn slumbered,

    as though the sea had pillowed it, and it slept.

  34. عرفتك كالصديقِ بكلِّ حالٍ

    وكنتِ شرابَ روحي والطعاما

    I have known you like a friend, in every state,

    and you were my soul's drink and food.

  35. وملحُكِ في دمي وشذاكِ باقٍ

    وهذا الصوتُ أسمعُه دواما

    And your salt is in my blood, and your fragrance lingers,

    and I hear this sound always.

  36. تعالي صخرةَ الماضي أجيبي

    وقوفُكِ وانتظارُكِ ذا إلاما

    Come, rock of the past, answer:

    this standing and waiting of yours—how long?

  37. لقيتِ من العبابِ كما لقينا

    من الأيَّام قرعاً واصطداما

    You have suffered from the billows, as we have suffered

    from the days, blows and collisions.

  38. كأنكِ للورى هدفٌ وهذي

    جموعٌ تبتغي أمراً جساما

    As though you were a target for mankind, and these

    were crowds seeking a momentous end.

  39. إذا ما أخفقوا رجعوا فُرَادَى

    وإن هَمُّوا وجدتهُمُ زحاما

    When they fail, they return one by one;

    and when they resolve, you find them a throng.

  40. فؤادي إن تغيرتِ الليالي

    فمثلكَ مَن رَعَى فيها الذماما

    My heart, if the nights have changed,

    then one like you keeps faith through them.

  41. بلغنَا كعبةَ الآمالِ فاخشع

    ودعنا في مناسِكهَا قياما

    We have reached the Kaaba of hopes; be reverent,

    and let us stand in observance of its rites.

  42. خُذِ السلوانَ من حجرٍ صموتٍ

    فما أحراكَ بالحجرِ استلاما

    Take solace from a silent stone;

    how fitting for you to touch the stone in homage!

  43. بربكَ أينَ أحلامٌ غَوالٍ

    وعمرٌ قد قطعناهُ نياما

    By your Lord, where are those precious dreams,

    and the lifetime we have passed asleep,

  44. وعهدٌ كانَ فيك ربيع وردٍ

    كهذا اليومِ حُسناً وانسجاما

    and a time that was, with you, a spring of roses,

    like this day in beauty and harmony?