تَقَفَّيتُ أزمَاناً مَسِيحَ زَمَاني

فَأَغرَقني في أَبحُرِ الهَيمَانِ

For ages I followed the Messiah of my age,

and he drowned me in oceans of love-madness,

وَطوَّح بي في لُجِّ كُلِّ مُتِيهَةٍ

إِلى أَن تَنَاهَت حَيرَتِى فَرَمَاني

and hurled me into the abyss of every trackless waste,

until my bewilderment reached its utmost bound—then he cast me off.

فَأصبَحتُ لاَ أدرِى وِإن كُنتُ دَارِياً

بِسَبعٍ رَمَينَا الجَمرَ أم بِثَمَانِ

I came to know nothing, though once I had known:

Did we cast seven stones at the jamarāt, or eight?

يَلُوحُ يَمَاني البَرُوقِ بِوِجهَتِى

فَأحسَبَهُ إِن لاَحَ غَيرَ يَمَاني

A Yemen-born flash of lightning gleams my way,

yet whenever it flashes, I take it for something non-Yemeni.

وَإِن نُثِرَ الصَّرفُ الجُمانُ بِساحَتِي

حَسِبتُ الجُمانَ الصِّرفَ غَيرَ جُمانِ

And if pure pearls are scattered in my courtyard,

I take those pure pearls for no pearls at all.