يا عَمروُ مَن لَم يَختَنِق
بِالبَينِ لَم يَختَنِقِ
O Amro, he who has not been choked
O 'Amr, whoever does not suffocate
By separation, has not been choked
From the grief of parting, has never truly suffocated.
أَيُّ فَتىً في أُفُقٍ
وَروحُهُ في أُفُقِ
What young man with prospects broad
What a youth is he, existing in one horizon,
Whose soul lies in the wider world
While his spirit dwells in another!
وَلَم يُرِحهُ قَلَقٌ
حَتّى غَدا ذا قَلَقِ
Has not been vexed by disquiet
Anxiety granted him no respite,
Until he lives in constant fret?
Until he became anxiety itself.
يا عَمروُ لا لاقَيتَ ما
لاقَيتُ مِن مُنطَلَقي
O Amro, since the day I left
O 'Amr, may you never encounter what
The home where lived that patchwork tent
I encountered upon my departure.
ما سِرتُ مُذ جاوَزتُ مي
لاً دارَ ذاكَ الخَرِقُ
And traveled on, I've not one night
I have not journeyed since passing the mile
Spent without love beckoning me
Of that noble youth's abode,
إِلّا وَداعي حُبِّهِ
يَثني إِلَيهِ عُنُقي
To turn my neck back to his land.
But that the summoner of his love
Turns my neck back towards him.
