يمضي الزمانُ وأنتَ هاجر

أو ما لهذا الهجر آخر

Time passes while you still shun me—

or does this estrangement have no end?

يا من تحكَّم في القلو

بَّ فإنه لهواك ذاكر

O you who rule over the hear—

—ts: each remembers its passion for you.

وإذا رَقَدت مُنعَّماً

فاذكر شَقيّاً فيكَ ساهر

And when you sleep in bliss,

remember a wretch who lies awake for you.

شَتَّتَنَ ما بيني وبي

نك في الهوى لو كنت عاذر

How vast the gulf between me and—

—you in love, if only you would show mercy.

النارُ في كبدي وظَل

مُك باردٌ والجَفنُ فاتر

Fire burns in my liver, while your sha—

—dow is cool and your eyelid languid.

حَتَّامَ تحكمُ في نفو

س العاشقين وأنتَ جائر

How long will you rule the sou—

—ls of lovers while acting unjustly?

هلا اقتَدَيتَ بعَدل مو

لانا كمال الدين ظافر

Why not emulate the justice of our mas—

—ter, Kamal al-Din Zafir?

بك يا بن نصرٍ جئتُ أر

جو نُصرَةً فانعم وبادِر

To you, O son of Nasr, I have come, ho—

—ping for aid; be gracious and make haste.

وأجر من الزمن الذي

دارت عليَّ به الدوائر

And shield me from Time, through which

fortune’s cycles have turned against me.

أصبحتُ في أمري ولا

أشكو لغير اللَه حائِر

I have become bewildered in my affairs, and complain—

—to none but God.

ولكم يُذَكّرني الشتا

ءُ بأمره ولكم أكاسر

And how often win—

—ter reminds me of its business—and how often I haggle!

واللحمُ يَقبُحُ أن أعو

د لبَيعهِ والشعرُ بائر

As for meat, it would be shameful to re—

—turn to selling it, while poetry goes unsold.

يا ليتني لا كنت جَ

زَّاراً ولا أصبحتُ شاعِر

Would that I had never been a but—

—cher, nor ever become a poet.