أراع يطويي بحار الظلام

أو سراج في غرفة المستهام

Is it a guardian folding the seas of darkness,

Or a lamp in the room of the lovestruck?

شاحب الضوء يرقب الشاعر

السهران تبكيه نائبات الغرام

Pale of light, watching the poet,

The sleepless one, wept over by love's tribulations.

خافق مثل فلبه حين يطغى

راعش مثل دمعه في انسجام

Pulsing like his heart when it is overwhelmed,

Trembling like his tears in harmony.

أعليه لنجمة الصبح وعد

بلقاء فبات نضو سقام

Does it have a promise to the morning star

Of a meeting, that it stays worn out by ailment?

فهو نبع تحت الظلام فريد

لو روى قلب ظاميء من أوام

For it is a unique spring beneath the darkness,

If only it quenched a thirsty heart of its burning thirst.

و هو أرجوحة الظلام و ظل

حركته أنامل الأنسام

And it is the swing of darkness and a shadow,

Moved by the fingertips of the breezes.

و جناح يبيت ينتظر الفجر

خفوق بغصنه المتسامي

And a wing that passes the night awaiting dawn,

Fluttering upon its lofty branch.

مر طيف من الحبيبة يهفو

للقاء المعذب المستضام

A phantom of the beloved passed by, yearning

To meet the tormented, the oppressed.

فطواه اللظى وبات دخانا

يطرق الليل نفحة من قتام

But the flame consumed it and it became smoke,

A breath of gloom knocking upon the night.

فرويدا كفى السراج اعتسافا

انه غال رائع الأحلام

So gently, enough of the lamp's tyranny,

It has assassinated the wondrous dreams.

بأسى الليل باحتراق الفراشات

بدمع من النفوس الظوامى

By the sorrow of the night, by the burning of butterflies,

By tears from thirsty souls,

بسهاد الفتى بما بين جنبيه

بما للنجوم من آلام

By the youth's sleeplessness, by what lies within his ribs,

By the pains that belong to the stars,

رحمة أيها السراج بمن أحص

يت آهاته وراء الظلام

Have mercy, O lamp, on the one whose groans

You have counted behind the darkness.

لا تسامره إنه شاعر ضل

بدنيا الخيال و الأوهام

Do not keep him company, for he is a poet lost

In a world of imagination and illusions.

أذان الصبح أن يلوح فدعه

يسعد الطرف لحظة بمنام

The call of dawn is about to appear, so let him,

Let his eyes find joy for a moment in sleep.