طَالَ الطَّرِيقُ إِلىَ فَاسٍ عَلَى السَّاعِي

مُضَاعَفُ الشَّوْقِ بِالآنَاءِ وَالسَّاعِ

The road to Fez is long for the traveler

The road to Fez has grown long for the traveler,

My yearning grows with the hours and time

With longing multiplied throughout the watches and the hours.

تَأَجَّجَتْ نَارُهُ السَّوْدَاءُ لَمَّا دَعَا

إِلىَ الرَّحِيلِ عَنِ الْحَمْرَالَهُ دَاعِ

Its black fire blazed when it called

Its dark fire blazed up when a caller summoned,

To depart from the Red City's environs

Calling him to depart from Al-Hamra.

وَقَالَ دَاعِي السُّرَى نَادَيْتُ مُسْتَمِعاً

وَقَالَ دَاعِي الْعَنَا أَبْلَغْتَ أَسْمَاعِي

The caller of bliss called me, I listened

The caller of the night-journey said: 'I have called to one who listens,'

The caller of delight delivered my hearing

And the caller of hardship said: 'You have reached my ears.'

وَكُلَّمَا سِرْتُ عَنْهَا قَيْدَ شِبْرٍ سَرَى

طَيْفُ اشْتِيَاقٍ إِلىَ أَهْلِي وَأَشْيَاعِي

And whenever I traveled a mile away

And whenever I journeyed from it by the measure of a handspan, there swept

A specter of longing for my people and partisans

A phantom of longing for my family and my companions.

وَمُنْشِئِي حَيْثُ خَالَفْتُ هَوَايَ وَلَمْ

أَكُنْ لِمَنْ قَدْ نَهَى عَنْهُ بِمِطْوَاعِ

And the one who led me, when I defied my passion

By my Creator! Though I opposed my own passion, I was not

And was not compliant to the one who prohibited it

Compliant to the one who had strictly forbidden it.

وَرُضْتُ أَفْرَاسَ تَحْسِينِي وَإِبْدَاعِي

بَيْنَ حَدَائِقِ أَشْعَارِي وَأَسْجَاعِي

And I was content with the steeds of my praise and creation

I tamed the steeds of my embellishment and creativity,

Among the gardens of my poetry and meters

Amidst the gardens of my poems and my rhyming prose.

حَتَّى إِذَا كَانَتِ الْبَيْضَاءُمِنْ كَثَبٍ

عَادَ الْحَنِينُ إِلىَ الحَمْرَاءِ وَالدَّاعِي

Until when the White City was from a hill

Until, when Al-Baydha was close at hand,

The yearning returned to the Red and the caller

The yearning for Al-Hamra and the calling voice returned.

لِمْ لاَ وَفِيهِمْ أُصَيْحَابِي الذِينَ ثَرَوْا

وَهُمْ بِهَا بَيْنَ أَحْشَائِي وَأَضْلاَعِي

Why not, and among them my friends who became wealthy

And why not? For among them are my dear companions who have thrived,

While they were in it, between my entrails and ribs

And they, within that city, reside between my vitals and my ribs.

فَارَقْتُهُمْ غَيْرَ مُذْمُومٍ جُوَارَهُمُ

حَاشَا الأُلىَ وَرِثُوا الْفَضْلَ بِإِجمَاعِ

I left them, their company not condemned

I parted from them, their neighborliness entirely blameless—

Far from intimate friends, they inherited virtue by consensus

Far be it to fault those who inherited virtue by unanimous consent.

أَسْتَوْدِعُ اللهَ مِنْهُمْ كُلَّ مُؤْتَمِنٍ

عَلَى الْوِدَادِ لِثَدْيِ الصِّدْقِ رُضَّاعِ

I entrust God every trusting soul among them

I entrust to God every trustworthy soul among them,

For affection, to the breast of sincerity, suckling

Who is faithful to affection, suckling from the breast of truth.