أفدي التي استودَعْتُها بَطْنَ الثَّرى

وأبَنْتُها عنِّي برغمي مجبَرا

I ransom with my soul her whom I buried in the earth's bosom,

And whom against my will I parted from me by force.

تاللّهِ ما اخترتُ التوقُّفَ ساعةً

من بعدِ يومِكِ لو خُلِقْتُ مُخَيَّرا

By Allah, after your day I would not have chosen to tarry one hour,

Had I been created with the power of choice.

يا ليتَ أنكِ بالضِيَا من ناظِري

وسوادُهُ لكِ موطِئٌ دونَ الثَّرى

Oh would that you were before my eyes in place of the darkness,

And that darkness were beneath the earth instead of you.

غُصنانِ مؤتلفانِ أَفْرَدَ واحِداً

ريبُ المنيَّةِ منهما فتهصَّرا

Two entwined branches has fate severed into one,

Doubting not the stroke of death which made them wither.

ما ضرَّهُ فيما جَنَاهُ عليهما

لو كانَ قدَّم منهما ما أخَّرَا

No harm came to him from what befell them,

If he had preferred what came after to what went before.

هيهاتَ أنْ يبقى الحُطَامُ بِحَالِه

من بعدِما هصرَ الأغضَّ الأنضرا

Alas! The wreck cannot remain in its condition,

After the greener of the two greens has withered.