إِذا كُنتِ قوتَ النَفسِ ثُمَّ هَجَرتِها

فَكَم تَلبَثُ النَفسُ الَّتي أَنتِ قوتُها

If you were the food of my soul, then abandoned it

How long can the soul last, when you are its nourishment?

أَغَرَّكِ أَنّي قَد تَصَبَّرتُ جاهِداً

وَفي النَفسِ مِنّي مِنكِ ما سَيُميتُها

Does it fool you that I have endured stoically?

While within my soul, there is enough of you in me to kill it

سَأَصبِرُ صَبرَ الضَبِّ في الماءِ أَو كَما

يَعيشُ بِدَيمومِ الصَريمَةِ حوتُها

I will endure with the patience of a hyena in water or like

The whale lives with the permanence of deprivation