إن لم يكن مدنفاً كما زعما

إن لم يكن مدنفاً كما زعما

فلِم بكت مقلتي عليهِ دما

فلِم بكت مقلتي عليهِ دما

If he was not wasting away, as he claimed,

If he is not a slanderer as they claimed,

then why did my eye weep blood for him?

Why did my eyelids shed tears of blood for him?

أستشهدُ الشوقَ والدموعَ على

أستشهدُ الشوقَ والدموعَ على

ما بيَ منهُ والحزنَ والسقَما

ما بيَ منهُ والحزنَ والسقَما

I call longing and tears to bear witness to

I call upon longing and tears to witness

what I suffer because of him—and grief and sickness too.

The sorrow, grief, and illness he left me.

في أيِّ شيءٍ يرى الضَّنى بدَني

في أيِّ شيءٍ يرى الضَّنى بدَني

وصِرتُ مِما لقيتهُ علَما

وصِرتُ مِما لقيتهُ علَما

In what state does wasting sickness see my body?

In what does he see wrong with my body,

And through what I have endured, I have become an emblem.

When I have become, because of him, a sign?

وحبِّهِ ما سَلوته قسماً

وحبِّهِ ما سَلوته قسماً

بالحبِّ إن كانَ يقبلُ القَسَما

بالحبِّ إن كانَ يقبلُ القَسَما

By love for him, I have not forgotten him—an oath

By love I swear, if oaths Love will allow,

by love, if he accepts the oath.

I never asked of his love a binding vow.