لو لَمْ يُحَرَّمْ على الأَيامِ إِنجادِي

ما واصَلَتْ بَيْنَ إِتْهامي وإِنْجادِي

If the days had not forbidden my salvation,

They would not have connected between my guilt and my salvation,

طوراً أَسيرُ مع الحيتانِ في لُجَجٍ

وتَارةً في الفيافي بَيْنَ آسادِ

Sometimes I walk with the whales in deep seas,

And sometimes in the wilderness between lions.

إِمّا بِطامِرَةٍ في ذَا وَطارِمَةً

أو في قَتَادٍ على هذا وأَقْتادِ

Either in Tamarah or that which has strong waves,

Or in Qatad upon this and led them.

والناسُ كُثْرٌ ولكنْ لا يقدَّرُ لي

إِلا مرافَقَةُ المَلاَّح والحادي

And the people are many but none appreciates me,

Except the company of the sailor and the guide.

هذا ولَيْتَ طَرِيقَيْ ما رَمَيْتُ لَهُ

مَسْلُوكَتَانِ لِرُوَّادٍ ووُرّادِ

I wish my path that I sought,

Were two paved ways for visitors and those returning.

وما أَسيرُ الى رومٍ ولا عربٍ

لكنْ لريحٍ وإِبراقٍ وإِرعادِ

And I do not walk to Romans nor Arabs,

But to the wind, lightning and thunder.

أَقلَعْتُ والبَحْرُ قد لانَتْ شكائِمُهُ

جِدًّا وأَقلَعَ عن مَوْجٍ وإِزْبادِ

I set sail while the sea calmed its billows,

Seriously and the waves and foam subsided.

فعادَ لا عاد ذا ريحٍ مُدَمِّرَةٍ

كأَنَّها أُخْتُ تلك الرّيحِ في عادِ

So it returned no returner with a destructive wind,

As if it were the sister of that wind in Aad.

ولا أقولُ أَبَى لي أَن افارقَكُمْ

فحيثُ ما سِرْتُ يلقاني بمِرْصادِ

And I do not say it refused me to leave you all,

For wherever I went, it meets me with an ambush.

وقد رأيتُ به الأَشراطَ قائِمَةً

لأَنَّ أَمواجَهُ تجرِي بأَطْوادِ

And I saw in it the conditions fulfilled,

Because its waves flow with logs.

تعلُو فلولا كتابُ اللِه صَحَّ لنا

أَنَّ السّموات منها ذاتُ أَعمادِ

It rises so had it not been for God’s scripture indeed to us,

That the heavens, some of them have pillars.

ونحنُ في منزلٍ يُسْرَى بِسَاكِنِهِ

فاسْمَعْ حديثَ مُفيمٍ بَيْتُه غادِ

And we are in an abode made comfortable for its resident,

So listen to the talk of the eminent one whose house is empty.

أَبِيتُ إِنْ بِتُّ منها في مُصَوَّرَةٍ

من ضيقِ لَحْدٍ ومن إِظلامِ أَلْحادِ

I spend the night, if I stay, in an imaged one,

From the narrowness of the grave and from the darkness of pitfalls.

لا يَسْتَقِرُّ لنا جَنْبٌ بمضْجَعِهِ

كأَنَّ حالاتِنا حالاتُ عُبَّادِ

A side does not settle down for us in its bedding,

As if our conditions are those of worshippers.

فكم يُصَعَّرُ خَدٌّ غيرُ مُنْعَفِرٍ

وكم يَخِرُّ جبينٌ غيرُ سَجَّادِ

So how many a cheek furrows without frowning,

And how many a forehead folds without prostrating.

حتى كأَنَّا وكَفُّ النَّوْءِ تُقْلِقُنا

دراهمٌ قَلَّبَتْها كفُّ نَقَّادِ

Until it is as if the slap of misfortune disturbs us,

Dirhams that the palm of the assayer has overturned.

وإِنما نحن في أَحشاءِ جاريةٍ

كأَنما حَمَلَتْ مِنَّا بأَوْلادِ

Rather we are in the belly of a female servant,

As if she carried some of us as her first children.

فلا تعُدُّوا لنا يومَ السَّلامَةِ إنْ

حُزْنا السَّلامَةَ إِلاَّ يومَ مِيلادِ

So do not count for us the day of safety if

Sorrow has made safety the day we were born.

يا إِخوتي ولنا من وُدِّنا نَسَبٌ

على تبايُنِ آباءٍ وآجدادِ

O brothers, and we have a lineage from our love

Despite difference of fathers and ancestors.

نقرا حُروفَ التَّهَجِّي عن أَواخِرِها

ونحنُ نَخْبِطُ منها في أبي جادِ

We read the letters of the spelling from their ends

And we grope in it our father has perished.

ولا تلاوةَ إِلاَّ ما نُكَرِّرُهُ

من مُبْتَدَى النَّحْلِ أو من مُنْتَهَى صادِ

And no recitation except what we repeat

From the bees’ beginning or from the end of Saad.

متى تُنَوِّرُ آفاقُ المنَارَةِ لي

بكوكبٍ في ظلامِ الليل وَقَّادِ

When do the horizons of the lighthouse light up for me

With a planet in the darkness of night and guide me?

وأَلحَظُ الشُّرفاتِ البِيضَ مُشْرِفَةً

كالبَيْضِ مُشْرِفَةً في هامِ أَنْجادِ

And I notice the white balconies overlooking

Like eggs overlooking the pate of wild cows.

وأَستجِدُّ من الباب القديمِ هوًى

عنِ الكنيسةِ فيه جُلّ أَسْنَادي

And I yearn from the old door an inclination

About the church wherein is most of my support

بِحيثُ أَنْشِدُ آثاراً وأُنْشِدُهَا

فَيُبْلِغُ العُذْرَ نِشْدانِي وإِنشادي

To where I recite relics and chant them.

So my chanting and poem reach the excuse.

القصرُ فالنخلُ فالجَمَّاءُ بينهما

فالأثلُ فالقَصَبَاتُ الخُضْرُ فالوادي

The palace then the palm trees then the beautiful plain between them

Then the sweet basil then the green canes then the valley

عَلِّي أَروحُ وأَغدو في معاهِدِها

كما عَهِدْتُ سَقَاها الرَّائحُ الغادي

Make me go and walk in its pacts

As the gentle wind made me used to watering it.

متى تعودُ ديارُ الظَّاعنينَ بِهِمْ

والبينُ يطلُبُهمْ بالماءِ والزَّادِ

When will the abodes of the wandering therein return to them?

While the estrangement seeks them with water and provision.