ذَهَبَ الرَبيعُ فَفي الخَمائِلِ وَحشَةٌ

مِثلُ الكَآبَةِ مِن فِراقِكَ فينا

Spring has departed, leaving the meadows desolate

Spring has departed, leaving desolation in the groves

Like the melancholy of being apart from you

Like the melancholy that dwells in us from your absence.

لَو دُمتَ لَم تَحزَن عَلَيهِ قُلوبُنا

وَلَئِن أَضَعنا الوَردَ وَالنَسرينا

Had you stayed, our hearts would not have grieved

Had you remained, our hearts would not have grieved for it,

Although we lost the roses and jasmine

Even if we had lost the roses and the eglantine.

فَلَقَد وَجَدنا في خِلالِكَ زَهرَهُ

المُفتَرَّ وَبِالماءِ الَّذي يَروينا

For we found in you blossoms

For we have found in your nature spring's very blossom,

Of joy and water to quench our thirst

Brightly smiling, and the fresh water that quenches us,

وَنَسيمَهُ الساري كَأَنفاسِ الرِضى

وَشُعاعَهُ يَغشى المُروجَ فُتونا

Your gentle breeze like breaths of contentment

And its wandering breeze, like breaths of contentment,

Your light enveloping the meadows, alluring us

And its radiance that clothes the meadows in enchantment.

جَزَتِ المَحاسِنَ في الرَبيعِ وَفُقتَهُ

إِذ لَيسَ عِندَكَ عَوسَجٌ يُدمينا

The beauties of spring paled next to your grace

You encompassed the beauties of spring and surpassed it,

For you have no thorns to prick us

For you possess no thorns to make us bleed.

يا أَشهُراً مَرَّت سِراعاً كَالمُنى

لَو أَستَطيعُ جَعَلتُكُنَّ سِنينا

Oh months that sped by so swiftly like wishes

O months that passed as swiftly as wishes,

If only I could make you into years

If I were able, I would have made you into years.

وَأَمَرتُ أَن يَقِفَ الزَمانُ عَنِ السُرى

كَيلا نَمُرَّ بِساعَةٍ تُبكينا

And stop time in its tracks

And I would have commanded time to halt its journey,

Lest we pass an hour that makes us weep

So we might never reach an hour that brings us tears.

وَنَمُدُّ أَيدِيَنا فَتَرجِعُ لَم تُصبِ

وَتَعودَ فَوقَ قُلوبِنا أَيدينا

And reach out our hands, only to have them return

We stretch out our hands, but they return grasping nothing,

Placed again over our hearts

And back upon our hearts our hands descend,

خَوفاً عَلَيها أَن تَساقَطَ حَسرَةً

أَو أَن تَفيضَ لَواعِجاً وَشُجونا

Fearing they may fall in sorrow

In fear that they might shatter from regret,

Or overflow with anguish and grief

Or overflow with burning anguish and sorrows.

قَد كُنتِ خِلتُ الدَهرَ حَطَّمَ قَوسَهُ

حَتّى رَأَيتُ سِهامَهُ تُصمينا

You had been the antidote in life that broke its bow

I had thought that Fate had shattered its bow,

Until we saw its arrows pierce us

Until I saw its arrows striking us down.

فَكَأَنَّما قَد سائَهُ وَأَمَضَّهُ

أَنّا تَمَتَّعنا بِقُربِكِ حينا

It's as if it regained its strength and sharpness

As if it were displeased and deeply pained

When your company was ours for a while

That we enjoyed your nearness for a while.