إلا لله دهر كنت فيه

أعز علي من روحي وأهلي

For a time I lived without God,

To God belongs that bygone time when you were

My soul and family were most dear,

Dearer to me than my very soul and kin,

فما برحت يد الهجران حتى

طواك بنانها طي السجل

Until the hand of separation struck -

Yet the relentless hand of parting did not cease until

Its fingers etched sorrow on my heart.

Its fingertips folded you away like the rolling up of a scroll.

شقاني الصبر هجركم كما قد

سقاني الحب وصلكم بسجل

Patience has rent me leaving you,

Your abandonment forced me to drink the bitterness of patience,

As love once joined us joyfully.

Just as love once poured me your union in brimming buckets.

وجدت الوصل أصل الوجد حقاً

وطول الهجر أصلاً للتسلي

In truth, to join is joy's source,

Truly, I have found union to be the very root of passion,

While separation ever brings agony.

And prolonged separation to be the source of forgetting.