ما ضرَ أهلَ الحمى لو أنَّهمْ رجعوا

بانوا فأقفرَ مصطافٌ ومرتبَعُ

What harm if the people of passion returned?

They left, so the meadows and hills are deserted.

بانوا فبانَ على آثارِ نأيهمُ

عصرُ الشبابِ فمنْ أبكي ومَنْ أدعُ

With their leaving, the age of youth was revealed

in the traces of their remoteness. Who shall I weep for and call upon?

أحبابَنا لا تظنُّوني أُقادُ الى

قومٍ سواكمْ فأسلوكمْ وأتَّبِعُ

My loved ones, think not that I am led

To a people other than you, so I ask you and follow.

مُنايَ اِصلاحُ ما بيني وبينكمُ

وكلُّ شيءٍ مِنَ الدنيا له تَبَعُ

My purpose is to reform what is between me and you,

And everything of this world has consequences.

وقفتُ بعدكمُ في الربيعِ أندبُه

والحافزانِ هماالتبريحُ والهلعُ

After you I stood in the spring lamenting it,

With incentive and apprehension pulling me.

مرابعٌ لم أزلُ فيهنَّ ذا جزعٍ

بعد الخليطِ وماذا ينفعُ الجزعُ

I have not stopped being distressed

After the separation. And what use is distress?

خلتْ ملاعُبها مِن كلِّ غانيةٍ

نأتْ فدمعي على آثارِها دُفَعُ

Its entertainments are devoid of every melody.

My tears flow over its traces, repelled.

اِنْ ضنَّتِ السُّحْبُ جادَتْها غمائمُه

أو أمسكَ القطرُ أمسى وهو مُنْدَفِعُ

If the clouds are stingy with their rain,

Or the drops withhold, they flow unrestrained by evening.

ديارُ هندٍ سقتْها كلُّ غاديةٍ

مِنَ الجفونِ إذا ما أخلفَ الكَرَعُ

The lands of India were watered by every passerby’s tears

From their eyes, when the drinker leaves off.

مازلتُ أسالُ عنها كلَّ بارقةٍ

تبيتُ بين سَواري السُّحْبِ تَمتصِعُ

I still ask every lightning flash

That spends the night between the clouds' bracelets, writhing.

كأنها زفراتي حين يَضرِمُها

بعدَ التفرُّقِ لي في قربهمْ طمعُ

As if they are my sighs when, after separation,

In their nearness I still have hope.

ياقلبُ ويحكَ كم تأبى نفارَهمُ

فتستفيقُ زمانا ثم تنخدعُ

Oh heart, woe to you, how you refuse their estrangement

So you wake for a while, then are deluded anew!

ما أنتَ أوَّلَ مَنْ شاقتْهُ لامعةٌ

على الديارِ ولا هتّافةٌ سُجُعُ

You are not the first that a shining one has deserted

At the dwellings, nor the first that a wailer has lamented.

مازلتَ بي وبما تهواه مِن عُلَقٍ

حتى علتني لأثوابِ الضنى خِلَعُ

You have remained with me and what I desired of attachment

Until the garments of grief overcame me and I took them off.

حملتَ ثِقلَ أليمِ الهجرِ مُضْطَلِعاً

به فكيف بحملِ البعدِ تضطلعُ

You have undertaken the heavy burden of painful separation,

Bearing it, so how can you undertake the burden of distance?

في كلِّ يومٍ نياقُ البينِ مُحْدَجَةٌ

تَخُبُّ كرهاً بَمنْ تهواه أو تضعُ

Each day the camel litter of separation is prepared

To depart with hatred whoever you love or settle with.

هذا على الوجدِ قلبٌ لا يقلِّبُه

طولُ الفراقِ ولا بالعذلِ يرتدعُ

This is a heart that length of absence does not overturn

Nor with blame restrained.

قلبٌ تنفِّرُه البلوى فتَعطِفُه

عن الغرامِ وَتثنيهِ له الخُدَعُ

Misfortune repels it from love

And tricks dissuade it.

والحبُّ في مذهبِ العشاقِ كلِّهمُ

داءٌ دويُّ ومبدا أمرِه الولَعُ

And love, in the doctrine of all lovers,

Is a chronic illness whose origin is infatuation.

وفَوا فخانَهمُ الأحبابُ وانتقضتْ

تلكَ العهودُ إلا يا بئسَ ما صنعوا

They had promises – but the loved ones betrayed them

And those covenants were broken, except what a pity they did!

جيرانَنا حبذا أيامُ ذي سَلَمٍ

والدارُ دانيةٌ والشملُ مجتمعُ

Our neighbors – blessed were the days of peace

When the house was close and the family together.

أبعدَ ذاكَ التداني مِن دياركمُ

أبيتُ والهجرُ عن لقياكمُ يَزَعُ

After that closeness to your houses, I refuse

And estrangement from seeing you perplexes me.

أماّ الغرامُ وأنتم تعلمونَ به

لكم مجيبٌ وأمّا الصبرُ ممتنعُ

As for passion, you know my response,

But patience is out of the question.

لا أدَّعى أننّي جلدٌ عليه ولا

أقولُاِنّي بدرعِ الصبرِ مدَّرعُ

I claim no fortitude against it, nor

Say I am clad in the armor of patience.

مَنْ لي بردَّ ليالينا بكاظمةٍ

لو أنهَّا بعدَ طولِ البعدِ تُرتْجَعُ

Who can cool for me those burning nights

If only after long separation they could be regained!

قد كانَ لي في زمانِ اللهوِ عندكمُ

قبلَ النوى وتنائي الدارِ مُتَّسَعُ

In days of playfulness with you I had

Before the departure and the home’s remoteness, an expanse.

يا ساكني هضباتِ القاعِ مِن اِضَمٍ

بالعيشِ بعدَ نواكمْ لستُ أنتفِعُ

O inhabitants of the highlands, after your presence

I have no benefit in life.

ما كنتُ قبلَ النوى بالوصلِ مقتنعاً

واليومَ بعدَ النوى بالطيفِ أقتنعُ

Before the departure I was not content with union.

Today after departure I am content with mirage.

ملاتْمُ القلبَ مِن شوقٍ ومِن حُرَقٍ

ومِن تجنِّ وهجرٍ فوقَ ما يَسَعُ

You have filled my heart with longing, burning,

And chastity, estrangement – more than it can contain.

كان اللقاءُ مع الساعاتِ مقترناً

واليومَ مَنْ لي به لو أنَّه لُمَعُ

Meeting was connected to the hours,

And today who do I have, if only it could be found?

يا ناظمي الشعرَ هذا في جزالتهِ

مِنَ البديعِ الذي ما شابَهُ بِدَعُ

O composer of poetry – this in its splendor

Is of the unprecedented rhetoric.

لا يستكينُ لأشعارٍ ملفقَّةٍ

ولا يُرى في حواشي لفظهِ ضَرَعُ

It will not be confined to contrived verse

Nor in the footnotes of its diction, any beast of burden.

شِعرٌ وسحرٌ إذا خادعتَ في أربٍ

به العقولَ أجابَ الأعصَمُ الفَرِعُ

It is poetry and magic – if you delude thereby

Minds for a moment, the keenest minds will incline.

هذا النظيمُ الذي أضحى يُطاوعُني

في سبكهِ النُّظّامِ يَسْتَنِعُ

This composition which has become pliant to me

In its forging the arranger is obstinate.

لو أنَّه خُطَبٌ زادتْ به عِظَماً

على تعاظُمِها الأعيادُ والجُمَعُ

If it were a sermon, it would increase the greatness

Of sermons and crowds on their festivities.