آه إن عاد الزمان لنا

واجتمعنا في منازلنا

Oh, if only time would return to us,

And we gathered again in our homes,

نفتح أبواب الهنا فرحا

ونغيظ الحاسدين بنا

We would open the doors of bliss joyfully,

And spite the envious of us.

أين ما كنا على رامة

بختنيه من ثمار المنى

Where are we in our comfort and ease,

With fortunes of wished-for pleasures?

أين أيام بجزع اللوى

ووصال كان بالمنحنى

Where are the days of ardent passion,

And union that bent the bough?

ولييلاتٌ خلت ومضت

وعهود قد تقضت لنا

Nights have passed and gone,

And pledges for us are fulfilled.

كم جنينا من ثمار الهوى

بذراكم من لذيذ الجنى

How much delight of love's fruits

Did we reap, the sweetest of harvests!

أنا واللّه على عهدكُم

لم أزل أرعى الذي بينا

By God, I keep the pact between us,

I still tend what is between us.

فوحقّ الحب ما أبصرت

مقلتي من بعدكم حسنا

By the right of love, my eyes have not seen

A more beautiful gaze than yours.

ساجع الأيكة طارح فتى

هجرت أجفانهُ الوسنا

A heartbroken lover returning to the ruins,

Whose eyelids senility has abandoned.

بان عن أوطانه ياله من

محب فارق الوطنا

He is far from his homelands – what a

Lover parted from his home!

كلّ ما تخفى جوانحه

دمع عينيه به أعلنا

All his wings conceal

Are tears his eyes openly declare.

كتب الوجدُ كتاباً بها

وأرى الدمع له عنونا

Love wrote in him a writ,

And I see tears as its title.

رقمت بخدّه أسطر

فبدا سر له بطنا

I outlined on his cheek lines,

So his secret openly showed.

أترى الوصل له عائدٌ

فيُرى الدهرُ له محسنا

Will union return to him?

Will time again show him favor?