ما لي كأن اشتياقاً ظلَّ يعنُف بي

بمصر لا بسواها كان مرتبطا

Why do I feel such yearning violence within me

What ails me, that longing still assaults my soul,

Only for Egypt, and naught else to which I'm tied

Bound fast to Egypt, and to no other goal?

وما أفدتُ الغنى فيها ولا ملكت

كفِّي بها ملكاً بالجود مغتبطا

The wealth I gained there did not profit me

Though there I gained no wealth, nor did I claim

Nor did I rule, though generous and dignified

A power that generous hands might envy and acclaim,

أأن سريتُ ولم أغلط تجدّد بي

وجدٌ يحسن عندي الجورَ والغلطا

Does absence make me err, and error seem

Is it that since I left—unerring—there awoke

Fine to me now, though once it horrified?

A passion painting fair the error and the yoke?

لولا مُحَسَّدُ بل لولا الحسين لما

رأيت رأيي بوهن العزم مختلطا

But for the envious, indeed, but for Hussein

But for Muhassad—nay, for Hussein—I would not find

My will had not been weak and terrified

My judgment with the frailty of resolve entwined.

هذا هواي وذا ابني خُطَّ مسكن ذا

بمصر والشام ألقى ذا بها خططا

This was my love, this was my son, his place

This is my love, and that my son; one's home is traced

Was mapped in Egypt and in Syria's side

In Egypt, while in Sham the other's lot is placed.

ولي من الأرض ما أنضى رواحلُه

عمري لقد حكمت فينا النوى شططا

I owned such land that wearied my steeds' pace

Mine is a breadth of earth that wears the camels down,

Yet Fate decreed that we be tossed aside

By my life, Separation rules with a tyrant's frown.

يا قاتل اللَهُ قلبي كيف ينزع بي

أما أُرى من عقال الهمِّ منتشطا

O Killer of my heart, how can you wrest

God strike my heart! How it drags me in its plea;

Me from Reason's reins to Passion's tide?

Will I never from the hobble of my cares be free?