كتبتُ وليلي بالسُهاد نَهارُ

وصَدري لوُرّادِ الهمومِ صِدارُ

I wrote while my night was awake and daytime slept,

And my chest for the lodgers of worries was a dwelling.

ولي أدمعٌ غُزرٌ تَفيضُ كأنَّها

سحائبُ فاضَت من يديكَ غِزارُ

And for me are plentiful tears that pour as though they were

Clouds that overflowed from your hands pouring.

وَلم أرَ مثلَ الدمعِ ماءً إذا جرى

تَلَهَّبُ منه في المدامعِ نارُ

And I did not see any water like tears when they flow,

Flames from them in the tear ducts blaze.

رحلتُ وزادي لوعةٌ ومَطِيَّتي

جَوانحُ من حَرِّ الفراقِ حِرارُ

I traveled and my provision was agony and my riding beast

Wings from the heat of parting were scorched.

مَسيرٌ دَعاهُ الناسُ سَيراً تَوسُّعاً

ومعنى اسمِهِ إن حقَّقُوه إسارُ

A journey people called travel and breadth,

Yet the meaning of its name if examined is confinement.

اذا رُمتُ أن أنسى الأسى ذَكَّرَت بهِ

دِيارٌ لها بينَ الضلوعِ دِيار

Whenever I attempt to forget the grief, it reminds me

Of abodes that within my ribs have abodes.

لك الخيرُ عن غير اختياري تَرَحُّلي

وهل لي عن صَرفِ الزمانِ خِيار

Goodness is yours without my choice in leaving,

And do I have over the turning of time a choice?

وهذا كتابي والجفون كأنّما

تُحَكَّمُ في أَشفارِهنَّ شِفارُ

And this is my writing while my eyelids are as though

Their rims arbitrate upon their edges.