أَلا لَيتَ شِعري هَكَذا أَنتَ لِلناسِ

فَأَقدِعَ عَنكَ القَلبَ يا صاحِ بِالياسِ

Alas, if only I had known you were like this with people

Oh, would that I knew—is this the way you deal with all mankind?

I would have hardened my heart against you, O companion of despair

That I might rein in my heart from you, O friend, through sheer despair.

فَقَد كُنتَ دَهراً لا تَروقُ لِمُعجَبٍ

سِوايَ وَلا تُنمي إِخاءِ إِلى باسِ

For you had long been unpleasing to an admirer

For you remained, for an age, unpleasing to any suitor,

Other than me, nor did you nurture affection towards the downcast

Save for me, nor did you look upon my bond with scorn.

وَلَكِنَّني لَمّا بَدا مِنكَ ما بَدا

وَقُستُ أُموري عِندَ ذاكَ بِمِقياسِ

But when your true colors shone through

But when there appeared from you what has now appeared,

And I weighed my affairs in light of that with a measure

And I weighed my affairs, in that moment, upon the scales,

إِذَن لَيسَ تُزري بي لَدَيكَ مَوَدَّتي

وَلكِن يُزري بِوِدَّيكَ إِفلاسي

Then my love for you cannot be held against me

I realized it is not my affection that you hold in contempt,

Rather, your love for me exposed my destitution

But rather, what devalues me to you is my bankruptcy.