1. قسوتِ فلم نجد ظِلا يقينَا

    أحلما كانَ عطفُكِ أم يقينَا

    You were cruel, and we found no shade to shelter us.

    Was your tenderness a dream or a certainty?

  2. أهجراً في الصبابة بعد هجرٍ

    أرى أيامَه لا ينتهينَا

    Estrangement in ardent love, after estrangement?

    I see no end to its days.

  3. لقد أسرفتِ فيه وجُرتِ حتى

    على الرمقِ الذي أبقيتِ فينَا

    You went too far in it, and wronged even

    the last breath of life you left in us.

  4. كأن قلوبَنَا خُلِقَت لأمرٍ

    فمذ أبصرنَ من نهوى نسينَا

    It is as though our hearts were made for a purpose:

    for since they beheld the one we love, we have been forgotten.

  5. شُغلنَ عن الحياة ونمنَ عنها

    وبتنَ بمن نحِبُّ موكلينَا

    They were distracted from life and slept oblivious to it,

    and spent their nights devoted to the one we love.

  6. فإن مُلِئَت عروقٌ من دماء

    فإنَّا قد ملأناهَا حنينَا

    For if veins are filled with blood,

    we have filled them with longing.

  7. يمر الناسُ ما مروا وشاءوا

    على هَذا الثرى متنقلينَا

    People go their way as they please,

    moving about upon this earth;

  8. وأنت تَنَقَّلينَ على قلوبٍ

    وأكبادٍ وأرواحٍ بلينَا

    while you move over hearts,

    and livers and souls that have wasted away.

  9. فرفقاً بالذي أبقيتِ منها

    وأقسمُ كم تركتِ لنا أنينَا

    So be gentle with what you have left of them;

    and I swear, how many groans you have left us!

  10. فإنك إن سررتِ فلم نجدها

    فرشنا الدمعَ هتَّاناً سخينَا

    For if you have rejoiced, we have found no joy;

    we spread out tears in hot torrents.