روحي الَّتي بِالأَمسِ كانَت تَرتَعُ

في الغابِ مِثلَ الظَبيَةِ القَمراءِ

My soul that yesterday grazed

My soul, which yesterday was roaming free,

In the forest like a blonde gazelle

In the forest, like a moonlit doe,

تَقتاتُ بِالثَمَرِ الجَنِيِّ فَتَشبَعُ

وَيَبُلُّ غَلَّتَها رَشاشُ الماءِ

Feasting on wild fruit to its fill

Feeding on fresh fruit until satisfied,

Dew sprinkling its fleece

And the water's spray quenching its burning thirst.

نَظَرَت إِلَيكِ فَأَصبَحَت لا تَقنَعُ

بِالماءِ وَالأَفياءِ في الغَبراءِ

It looked at you, now no longer content

It looked at you and became content no longer

With water and shade in the dunes

With the water and the shadows of the dusty earth.

تُصغي وَتُنصِتُ وَالحَمامَةُ تَسجَعُ

إِصغاؤُها لَكَ لَيسَ لِلوَرقاءِ

It listens as the dove coos

It listens and attends while the dove coos,

Its hearing for you, not for the leaves

But its listening is for you, not for the dove.

نادَيتِها فَلَها إِلَيكِ تَطلَعُ

هَذا التَطَلُّعُ كانَ أَصلَ شَقائي

I called it and towards you it aspires

You called it, and towards you it aspires;

This yearning was the origin of my torment

This aspiration was the root of my misery.

جَنَّحتَني كَيما أَطيرَ فَلَم أَطِر

هَيهاتِ إِنَّكِ قَد طَوَيتِ سَمائي

You gave me wings so I could fly but I did not soar

You gave me wings that I might fly, yet I did not fly;

Alas you folded up my skies

Far from it—for you have folded up my sky.

قَد كانَ يَسبيني الجَمالُ الرائِعُ

حَتّى لَمَحتُكِ فَهوَ لا يَسبيني

Beauty used to captivate me

Magnificent beauty used to captivate me,

Until I saw you, now it does not entrance me

Until I glimpsed you, and now it holds me no more.

عَصَفَت بِصَدري لِليَقينِ زَوابِعُ

ثَلَّت عُروشَ تَوَهُّمي وَظُنوني

Storms of certainty blew through my chest

Storms of certainty raged within my chest,

They ruined the castles of my fancy and suspicions

Toppling the thrones of my delusions and conjectures.

فَأَنا عَلى ما ضاعَ مِنِّيَ جازِعُ

إِنَّ الَّذي قَد ضاعَ جَدُّ ثَمينِ

So I grieve what I lost from myself

So I am grieving over what was lost from me,

Truly what is lost is precious

For that which was lost is truly precious.

لَولاكِ ما ماتَ الخَيالُ اليافِعُ

أَفَتَعجَبينَ إِذا كَرِهتُ يَقيني

Had it not been for you the soaring imagination would not have died

Were it not for you, the youthful imagination would not have died;

Are you surprised when I hate my certainty?

Do you wonder, then, if I detest my certainty?

هَذا صَنيعُكِ بي فَما أَنا صانِعُ

قَد شاءَ بَحرُكِ أَن تَضِلَّ سَفيني

This is your doing to me, what shall I do?

This is your doing to me, so what am I to do?

Your sea willed that my ship be lost

Your sea has willed that my vessel go astray.

جَرَّدتِ هَذا الطينَ مِن أَوهامِهِ

وَكَبُرتِ عَن قارورَةٍ مِن طينِ

You stripped this clay of its whims

You stripped this clay of its illusions,

And grew beyond a clay vessel

And you grew too great for a flask made of clay.

كَيفَ الوُصولُ إِلَيكِ يا نارَ القِرى

أَنا في الحَضيضِ وَأَنتِ في الجَوزاءِ

How to reach you, O fire of dwellings

How can I reach you, O beacon-fire of the night?

I am in the abyss while you are in the stars

I am in the abyss, and you are in the high stars.

لي أَلفُ باصِرَةٍ تَحِنُّ كَما تَرى

لَكِنَّ دونَكِ أَلفُ أَلفِ غَطاءِ

I have a thousand eyes that pine as you see

I have a thousand eyes that yearn as they see,

But beyond you are a thousand thousand veils

But between you and me are a million veils.

لو مِن ثَرىً مَزَّقتُها بِيَدِ الثَرى

لَكِنَّها سُجُفٌ مِنَ الأَضواءِ

If only from dust I could tear them by the hand of dust

If they were of soil, I would tear them with hands of soil,

But they are curtains of light

But they are curtains woven of lights.

ساءَلتُ قَلبي إِذ رَأى فَتَحَيَّرا

ماذا شَرِبتَ فَمِدتَ قالَ دِمائي

I asked my heart when it saw and was perplexed

I asked my heart when it saw and grew bewildered,

What did you drink that you offered my blood?

"What did you drink that you swooned?" It said, "My own blood."

يا لَيتَهُ قَد ظَلَّ أَعمى كَالوَرى

فَلَقَد نَعِمتُ وَكانَ في ظَلماءِ

Oh, would that it had remained blind like the rest

Would that it had remained blind like the rest of mankind,

For I was blissful and was in darkness

For I would have been blissful, while it remained in darkness.

قَد شَوَّشَت كَفُّ النَهارِ سَكينَتي

يا هَذِهِ رُدّي إِلَيَّ مَسائي

The palm of daylight disturbed my tranquility

The hand of day has disturbed my serenity;

O you, give me back my evenings

O you, give me back my evening.

أَمسَيتُ حينَ لَمَستِني بِيَدَيكِ

لي أَلفُ باصِرَةٍ وَأَلفُ جَناحِ

In the evening when your hand touched me

I became, when you touched me with your hands,

I had a thousand eyes and a thousand wings

Possessed of a thousand eyes and a thousand wings.

وَلَمَحتُ نارَ الوَحيِ في عَينَيكِ

وَالوَحيُ كانَ سُلافَةَ الأَرواحِ

And saw the fire of revelation in your eyes

And I glimpsed the fire of revelation in your eyes,

Revelation was the vigor of spirits

And revelation was the purest wine of souls.

فَنَشَرتُ أَجنِحَتي وَحُمتُ عَلَيكِ

مُتَوَهِّماً أَنّي وَجَدتُ صَباحي

So I spread my wings and clung to you

So I spread my wings and hovered over you,

Thinking I found my morn

Deluding myself that I had found my morning.

قَد كانَ حَتفي في الدُنُوِّ إِلَيكِ

حَتفُ الفَراشَةِ في فَمِ المِصباحِ

My doom was in yearning for you

My doom lay in drawing near to you,

The moth's doom in the lamp's mouth

The doom of the moth in the mouth of the lamp.

فَسَقَطتُ مُرتَعِشاً عَلى قَدَمَيكِ

أَلنارُ مَهدي وَالدُخانُ وِشاحي

So I fell trembling at your feet

So I fell, trembling, at your feet,

The fire my cradle and the smoke my shroud

The fire my cradle, and the smoke my shroud.

يا لَيتَ نورَكِ حينَ أَحرَقَني اِنطَوى

فَعَلى ضِيائِكِ قَد لَمَستُ جِراحي

Oh, would that when your light burned me it folded

Would that your light, when it burned me, had faded away,

For on your glow I felt my wounds

For by your glow, I have seen my own wounds.