يا نَفسُ كَيفَ لَطُفتِ

لِلصَبرِ حَتّى صَبَرتِ

O soul, how you were so gentle

O soul, how did you soften

With patience until you became patient

To patience, until you endured?

أَلَستِ صاحِبَتي يَو

مَ وَدَّعوني أَلَستِ

Were you not my companion when

Were you not my companion the day

They bid me farewell, were you not?

They bade me farewell? Were you not?

يا نَفسُ لَيتَكِ مِنّي

يَومَ الفِراقِ سَقَطتِ

O soul, if only you had fallen

O soul, would that you had

From me on the day we parted

Fallen from me on the day of parting.

وَيلَ الفُؤادِ المُعَنّى

مِنَ الفِراقِ المُشِتِّ

Woe to the heart that was hurt

Woe to the heart tormented

By the parting - it pierced me

By the separation that scatters all.

أَستَودِعُ اللَهَ ريماً

فارَقتُهُ مُنذُ سِتِّ

I entrust to God a beloved one

I entrust to God a gazelle,

I parted from six years ago

From whom I parted six days ago.

وَذاتِ نُصحٍ أَتَتني

تُفَجِّرُ الماءَ تَحتي

And a friend came to advise me

A counsellor came to me,

To let flow the water beneath me

Bursting water beneath my feet,

تَقولُ وَيحَكَ دَعها

لِساعَةٍ وَلِوَقتِ

She said: Woe to you, leave it

Saying, "Woe to you, leave her

For an hour or a moment

For an hour and for a time."

تَجني بِذَلِكَ وُدّي

فَما جَنَت غَيرَ مَقتِ

She thought she was gaining my love

She seeks my friendship thereby,

But she gained nothing but hatred

But she reaped nothing but loathing.

فَقُلتُ نَفسي وَأَهلي

لَها الفِداءُ وَأَنتِ

So I said: myself and my family

So I said: "My soul and my kin

Are ransoms for you

Are a ransom for her—and you too!"

يا عَينُ ما لَكِ لَمّا

وَرَّطتِ قَلبي سَكَنتِ

O eye, why is it that when

O eye, what ails you? When

You soothe my heart, you calm down?

You entangled my heart, you went still.

وَما اِستَعَنتُكِ إِلّا

أَبرَقتِ لي وَرَعَدتِ

And I sought you only so

I never sought your aid except

You may flash and thunder for me

You flashed and thundered at me.

فَكُنتِ مِثلَ اليَهودِي

يِ فِعلَهُ ما خَرَمتِ

Thus you were like the Jew

You became just like the Jew,

Who said: this is the Sabbath day

In his ways, deviating not:

اِحتَجتُ يَوماً إِلَيهِ

فَقالَ ذا يَومُ سَبتِ

When I needed him one day

I needed him one day,

He said: this is the Sabbath day

And he said, "This is the Sabbath."