لست الإله ولست بالشيطان

فعلى م تحرمني من الغفران

I am not God, nor am I Satan.

Why, then, do you deny me forgiveness?

أبرمت حكمك بالصدود مصدقا

للظن يا عبد الحميد الثاني

You sealed your judgment with rejection, giving credence

to suspicion, O Abd al-Hamid the Second.

لولا طلول من بقايا الود في

صدري لما خاطبتكم في شاني

Were it not for vestiges of lingering affection in

my breast, I would not have addressed you about my affair.

فرطت فيمن كنت بدر سمائه

فمحوت نور ودادك الروحاني

You forsook one in whose sky you were the full moon,

and so erased the light of your spiritual affection.

ما ضر فضلك لو مننت بعودة

وطرحت جلباب الهوى النفساني

Would your generosity have suffered had you graciously returned,

and cast off the cloak of sensual passion?

ما كان يخطر بالعقول جفاؤكم

أبدا ولم أعدده في حسباني

Your coldness had never crossed anyone's mind,

ever; nor had I reckoned on it.

فإذا بي المغضوب دون جريمة

صدرت فأيكما يعد الجاني

Then suddenly I am the object of wrath, though no crime

was committed—so which of you two is deemed the culprit?

أأنا على علمي بكنه حقيقتي

أم أنت عن هوس أم الإثنان

Is it I, knowing the essence of my true nature,

or you, acting out of frenzy—or both?

أم هي لا كانت ولا كانت لها

قبحا لما في العالم الإنساني

Or is it she—may she never have existed, nor anything have been hers!

Shame upon what is in the human world!

كانت بها تلك الليالي مرتعا

للجري قد ذهبت ذهاب ثواني

Those nights with her were a playground

for running; they passed away like seconds.

وكذا جزاء المسرفين عقوبة

فاربأ بنفسك عن حمى الخسران

And such is the recompense of those who go to excess: punishment;

so hold yourself aloof from the precincts of ruin.

ذهبت لذائذها وخلفت الخنى

أثرا لها والجمع في شنآن

Their delights have vanished, leaving lewdness

as their trace, while the company is steeped in hatred.

فارجع لود كامل متقدس

واطرح هوى متضعضع الأركان

So return to an affection complete and hallowed,

and cast aside a passion whose pillars are tottering.

واسكن بقلب راسخ بنيانه

وابدل به متداعي البنيان

And dwell in a heart whose structure stands firm,

and replace with it the one whose structure is collapsing.

مهما تكامل ودهن فانه

قسطاس خبث طاش بالنقصان

However complete their affection may be, it is

a scale of malice, thrown off balance by deficiency.

أيليق واأسفا بتضحية الأخ

وة تحت هيكل معبد الشيطان

Is it fitting—alas!—to sacrifice brother-

hood beneath the edifice of Satan's temple?

فانس الجناية من كلينا والتجىء

بدل انتهاك الود للغفران

So forget the offense on both our parts, and take refuge

in forgiveness, rather than violating affection.

واتل الصحائف من كتاب إخائنا

متناسيا ما كان من هذيان

And recite the pages from the book of our brotherhood,

putting past ravings out of mind.

عجبا قلاك أطال أيام الشقا

عجبا وأيام الهناء ثوان

How strange! Your aversion has lengthened the days of misery;

how strange! Yet the days of bliss are but seconds.