لَمّا تَهَدَّدَني نَصيرٌ بِالنَّوى

أُفزِعتُ مِن نَأيٍ إِلى هِجران

When my friend threatened me with estrangement

I was startled from intimacy into alienation

فَكَأنَّني في ذا وَذَلك حائِرٌ

قَد فَرَّ مِن أَسَدٍ إِلى ثُعبانِ

So I was in that perplexed and confused

As though I had fled from a lion to a serpent