تزوريننا وهناً ولو زرتِ في الضّحى

لأطلقتِ من ضيق الوِثاق أسيرا

You visit me weak and frail, and if you had visited at dawn

You would have freed a prisoner from the tight shackles

وما كانَ ما أَشعَرتنيهِ زِيارةً

ولكنّها كانت لقلبِيَ زُورا

And what made me feel your visit

Was not really a visit but deceit to my heart

فإنْ لم تكن حقّاً فإنّي جنيتُها

إلى أنْ بدا ضوء الصّباح سرورا

If it was not real, then I imagined it

Until the light of dawn brought happiness

فجاءَتْ إلى ليلِي الطّويل فخيّلتْ

لعينِيَ أو قلبي فعاد قصيرا

So it came to my long night and made it seem

To my eyes or my heart thus shortening it

لقاءٌ شفى بعض الغليل ولم أكنْ

عليه وإن كنتُ القديرَ قديرا

A meeting that healed some of the pain and I was not

Capable over it even if I was the Capable One

وَما كانَ إلّا فكرةً لمفكّرٍ

وذكراً جنى منه الظّلام ذَكورا

It was just the thought of a thinker

And a memory from which the darkness gained beams

وَلَمّا اِنقَضى ما صرتُ إلّا كَأنّني

محوتُ بضوء الصّبح منه سطورا

And when it was over I became as if

I erased its lines with the dawn light