مَنْ مُجيري من فؤادٍ كلَّما

اتَّقد البَرْقُ اليماني اتقَدا

Who will protect me from a heart that flares

Whenever the Yemeni lightning flashes?

كادَ لولا أدمُعي تحرِقُه

زفرةُ الوجدِ بما قد وجدا

Were it not for my tears extinguishing it,

My anguish would have consumed it in the flames it kindled.

عَرَفَ القلب يد العين بها

إنَّ للعينِ على القلبِ يدا

The heart knows the hand of the eye controls it -

Indeed, the eye holds sway over the heart.

لا أبيتُ اللَّيلَ إلاَّ راعياً

أنجُماً سارتْ على غير حَدا

I spend the night sleepless,

Watching the stars traverse the boundless sky.

طال ليلُ الصّبّ حتَّى خِلْتُه

جُعِلَ الليلُ عليه سرمدا

The long night of ecstasy seemed endless

Until it was granted eternity.

وتحرّوا رشداً عُذَّالُه

ولعَمري ما تحرّوا رشدا

Yet they did not endeavor to walk the path of righteousness -

By my life, they never endeavored to walk the righteous path.

بي حبيبٌ أنا ألقى في الهوى

منه ما ألقاه من كيد العِدى

I have a beloved against whom I have thrown myself in passion -

He has inflicted upon me such wounds as an enemy would cause.

تطلبُ السُّلوان إلاَّ إنَّ لي

لوعةً قامتْ وصبراً قعدا

The night visitor seeks nothing but to ignite

Suffering that rises up, and patience that sits still.

ما رمى الرَّامي فؤادي خطأً

منه في الحبِّ ولكن قصدا

My shooter missed not the mark when he struck my heart -

He intended it in his love, he meant no misstep.

يا رعى عهد الهوى إنَّ الهوى

جارَ بالحكمِ عليه واعتدى

O you who blame passionate love, passion itself

Has revolted against your judgment and transgressed your bounds.

خشية الواشين صبٌّ لم يزلْ

يُظهِرُ الدَّمع ويخفي الكمدا

Constant tears that never cease

Flow from fear of slanderers while anguish lies dormant within.

أترى أحبابنا يوم التقى

وجدوا من لوعةٍ ما وجدا

Can you see, the day our loved ones left,

The agony and desolation they felt?

قد وَقَفْنا بعدَهم في ربعِهِم

فبكَيْنا الدَّمع حتَّى نفدا

After they left, we stood in the place they dwelled

Our tears flowed until they were depleted.

ثمَّ لمَّا نفد الدَّمع على

طَلَل الربع بكيْنا الجَلَدا

Then when our tears on the ruins of that abode were spent

We wept blood, our skin itself weeping.