تَمَنَّيتُها حَتّى إِذا ما رَإِتُها

رَأَيتُها المَنايا شُرَّعاً قَد أَظَلَّتِ

I longed for her until, when at last I saw her—

I saw deaths drawn up before me, already looming.

وَما ساءَني إِلا كِتابٌ كَتَبتُهُ

فَلَيتَ يَميني بَعدَ ذَلِكَ شَلَّتِ

Nothing grieved me but a letter of mine that I had written—

would that my right hand, after that, had been paralyzed!

أَطالَت عِتاباً ما أُطيقُ جَوابَهُ

لَقَد عَظُمَت في العَينِ مِنّي وَجَلَّتِ

She prolonged a reproach whose answer I could not bear;

she loomed large in my eyes and grew majestic.

وَصَدَّت بِوَجهٍ يَبهَرُ الشَمسَ حُسنُهُ

إِذا أَبصَرَتهُ العَينُ حارَت وَزَلَّتِ

She turned away with a face whose beauty dazzles the sun;

when the eye beholds it, it reels bewildered and falters.

فَقُلتُ لَها ما قالَ قَبلي كُثَيِّرٌ

لِعَزَةَ لَمّا أَعرَضَت وَتَوَلَّتِ

So I said to her what Kuthayyir before me had said

to ʿAzza, when she turned away and departed—

قِياساً لَهُ يا عَزَّ كُلُّ مُصيبَةٍ

إِذا وُطِّنَت يَوماً لَها النَفسُ ذَلَّتِ

following his example: “O ʿAzza, every affliction—

once the soul steels itself one day to bear it—grows small.

أَسيئي بِنا أَو أَحسِني لا مَلومَةً

لَدَينا وَلا مَقلِيَّةً إِن تَقَلَّتِ

Treat us badly or kindly—you shall not be blamed

by us, nor hated, even if you come to hate us.”