بكى محب عند أسلافه

بكى محب عند أسلافه

بكاء مغبون لنكبات

بكاء مغبون لنكبات

A lover wept before his forebears,

A lover wept at his ancestors' graves

With the tears of one cheated by misfortunes.

A weeping of one wronged by misfortunes

فقلت ما يبكيك قل لي لقد

فقلت ما يبكيك قل لي لقد

اصبحت في ديوان أموات

اصبحت في ديوان أموات

So I said, “What makes you weep? Tell me—you have indeed

So I said, why do you weep? Tell me, for you

Come to be in the register of the dead.”

Have become part of the register of the dead

فقال لي أبكي على مردتي

فقال لي أبكي على مردتي

وما تقضى من لذاذاتي

وما تقضى من لذاذاتي

Then he said to me, “I weep for my beardless youth,

He said to me, I weep for my receding youth

And for the pleasures of mine that have passed.”

And unfulfilled pleasures