يا قلبُ كمْ فيكَ مِنْ دُنا محجَّبَةٍ

كأَنَّها حين يبدو فجرُها إرَمُ

O heart, within you lies many a hidden world

O heart, how many veiled worlds reside within you,

That when its dawn breaks through, the morn seems dim,

Resembling legendary Iram when its dawn appears.

يا قلبُ كمْ فيكَ مِنْ كونٍ قدِ اتَّقَدَتْ

فيه الشُّموسُ وعاشتْ فوقَهُ الأُممُ

O heart, within you flame so many suns

O heart, how many universes have ignited deep inside,

Where civilizations rose and nations thrived,

Where suns have blazed and nations lived and died.

يا قلبُ كمْ فيكَ مِنْ أُفْقٍ تُنَمِّقُهُ

كواكبٌ تتجلَّى ثُمَّ تَنْعَدِمُ

O heart, within you lies unnumbered horizons

O heart, how many horizons are embellished there,

Where stars shine bright then vanish in a blink,

By stars that shine in glory, then fade into the void.

يا قلبُ كمْ فيكَ مِنْ غابٍ ومن جَبَلٍ

تَدْوي بهِ الرِّيحُ أَو تسمو بهِ القممُ

O heart, within you roar so many peaks and vales

O heart, how many forests and mountains fill your space,

Where winds blow wild or summits pierce the sky,

Where the wind howls loud, or peaks ascend with pride.

يا قلبُ كمْ فيكَ مِنْ كهفٍ قدِ انبجستْ

منهُ الجداولُ تجري مَا لها لُجمُ

O heart, within you springs burst into being

O heart, how many caverns within you have burst forth,

Pouring forth streams that freely, briskly skim,

With rushing streams that flow with no restraint or rein,

تمشي فتحملُ غُصناً مُزهراً نَضِراً

أَوْ وَرْدَةً لم تُشَمِّهْ حُسنَها قَدَمُ

Flowing, they carry a blossoming branch, verdant,

Sweeping along a blooming bough, so fresh and green,

Or a rose whose beauty no feet have trod,

Or a lonely rose whose grace no wandering foot has marred,

أَو نحلَةً جرَّها التيَّارُ مُنْدَفِعاً

إلى البحارِ تُغنّي فوقها الدِّيَمُ

Or a bee the current sweeps, swift and heedless

Or a helpless bee, dragged downward by the rushing tide,

To the seas where it hums beneath the haze,

Towards the seas where endless rains sing overhead,

أَو طائراً ساحراً مَيْتاً قَد انْفجرتْ

في مُقْلَتَيْهِ جِراحٌ جمَّةٌ وَدَمُ

Or a wondrous, warbling bird, now lifeless,

Or an enchanting dead bird, within whose glassy eyes

Its eyes still wet with wounds and clotted blood.

Deep wounds have burst, and blood has welled in pain.

يا قلبُ إنَّكَ كونٌ مُدْهِشٌ عَجَبٌ

إن يُسأَلَ النَّاسُ عن آفاقِهِ يَجِموا

O heart, you are an astonishing universe, a wonder -

O heart, you are a universe of wonder and of awe,

If people are asked of its horizons, they are mum,

If men are asked of your horizons, silence binds their tongues.

كأَنَّكَ الأَبدُ المجهولُ قَدْ عَجَزَتْ

عنكَ النُّهى واكْفَهَرَّتْ حولكَ الظُّلَمُ

As though you are the unknown eternity that flummoxed

As if you are the unknown Eternity that defies

Reason and around which darkness heaved and swelled.

The grasp of minds, while darkness gathers round your rim.

يا قلبُ كم مِنْ مسرَّاتٍ وأخْيلةٍ

ولذَّةٍ يَتَحَامَى ظِلَّها الألمُ

O heart, within you lies many a pleasure and fantasy

O heart, how many joys and fleeing fantasies,

And delight whose shadow pain evades,

And pleasures whose soft shadows the pain dares not invade,

غنَّتْ لفجرِكَ صوتاً حالماً فرِحاً

نَشْوانَ ثمَّ توارتْ وانقضَى النَّغمُ

Who sang to your dawn in a voice enchanted, joyous,

Have sang unto your dawn with a dreamy, joyful voice,

Delighted and clear, then faded as the tune dimmed.

A drunken song—then vanished, and the melody decayed.

وكم رأى ليلُكَ الأَشباحَ هائمةً

مَذْعورةً تتهاوَى حَوْلَها الرُّجمُ

And how many phantoms did your night behold, restless,

And how often has your night beheld the wandering ghosts,

Terrified, crumbling as the stones rained upon them,

In terror, as the falling meteors crash around their flight.

ورَفْرَفَ الأَلمُ الدَّامي بأجنحةٍ

مِنَ اللَّهيبِ وأَنَّ الحُزْنُ والنَّدَمُ

And how pain's bloody wings, aflame, did flutter

And bloody Pain has fluttered there on wings of fire,

When sorrow and regret burned fierce within.

Made of the flame, while Sorrow groaned with deep Regret.

وَكَمْ مشتْ فوقكَ الدُّنيا بأَجمعها

حتَّى توارَتْ وسارَ الموتُ والعدمُ

And how the whole world walked your surface

How often has the entire world walked over you,

Until it waned and death and oblivion came,

Until it passed, and Death and Nothingness marched on.

وشيَّدَتْ حولكَ الأَيَّامُ أبنيةً

مِنَ الأَناشيدِ تُبْنَى ثُمَّ تنهدمُ

And how the days built around you edifices

And Time has raised up mighty structures all around,

Of hymns constructed then collapsed as one.

Constructed out of anthems, built to fall and fade.

تَمضي الحَيَاةُ بماضيها وحاضرِها

وتذهَبُ الشَّمْسُ والشُّطْآنُ والقِممُ

Life goes on with its past and present

Life moves along with all its past and present days,

While the sun, wadis and peaks all fade away,

And suns and shores and mountain peaks all pass away.

وأَنْتَ أَنْتَ الخِضَمُّ الرَّحْبُ لا فَرَحٌ

يَبْقى على سطحكَ الطَّاغي ولا أَلمُ

Yet you remain the same - vast, capacious,

But you remain the vast and boundless ocean deep,

No fleeting joy or pain disturb your tide.

Where neither joy nor pain survives your overwhelming sway.

يا قلبُ كم قَدْ تملَّيتَ الحَيَاةَ وَكَمْ

رقَّصتَها مَرَحاً مَا مسَّكَ السَّأَمُ

O heart, how you've embraced life and danced with it,

O heart, how you have savored life, and how often

Twirling with delight, unplagued by ennui.

You danced with it in glee, untouched by weariness.

وَكَمْ توَشَّحْتَ من ليلٍ ومن شَفَقٍ

ومِنْ صَباحٍ تُوَشِّي ذيلَهُ السُّدُمُ

And how you've donned the dusk and dawn's attire,

How often have you robed yourself in night and twilight,

The train of sunset's gown trailing behind you.

And in the morn, whose hem the misty clouds caress.

وَكَمْ نَسَجْتَ من الأَحلامِ أَرديةً

قَدْ مزَّقَتْها اللَّيالي وهي تَبْتَسِمُ

And how of dreams you have sewn gowns

How many cloaks of dreams you wove with tender care,

The nights have shredded while softly grinning.

Which nights have torn to shreds, while smiling all the while.

وَكَمْ ضَفَرْتَ أَكاليلاً مورَّدَةً

طارتْ بها زَعْزَعٌ تدوي وتَحْتَدِمُ

And how you've braided flowered wreaths

How many rosy wreaths and garlands you have braided,

Borne off by tempest's roar and furious scream.

Snatched by a howling gale that rages and resounds.

وَكَمْ رسمتَ رسوماً لا تُشابِهُها

هذي العَوالِمُ والأَحلامُ والنُّظُمُ

And how you've drawn designs unmatched in beauty

How many visions you have drawn, unmatched by aught

By these worlds, dreams and harmonious order -

In all these worlds, these systems, or the dreams of men.

كأَنَّها ظُلَلُ الفِرْدَوْسِ حافِلةً

بالحُورِ ثمَّ تلاشتْ واختفى الحُلُمُ

As though they are glimpses of Paradise, brimming

As though they were the shades of Paradise, replete

With maidens, then fading, the vision robbed.

With celestial maidens—then they vanished with the dream.

تبلُو الحَيَاةَ فتبلِيها وتخلَعُها

وتستجدُّ حياةً مَا لها قِدمُ

You taste life and test it and then cast it off,

You wear out life, and cast it off like worn-out clothes,

Seeking a novel life devoid of precedent.

And ever seek a new existence, fresh and young.

وأَنْتَ أَنْتَ شبابٌ خالدٌ نضرٌ

مثلُ الطَّبيعَةِ لا شَيْبٌ ولا هرَمُ

You are eternal youth, vitality abounds,

For you—and only you—are youth, eternal, green,

Like nature, knowing neither age nor frailty.

Just like the wild Nature, knowing neither age nor gray.