أكلّمُها ولا تدري كأني

أكلّمُ في سُكون ِالّليل ِنَفسِي

I speak to her, and she does not know—as though

in the stillness of night I were speaking to myself.

ولولا نارُها في القلبِ تَسْري

لما بالغْتُ, والأيّامُ تُنْسِى

Were it not for her fire coursing through my heart,

I would not have gone so far—for days make one forget.

لقد نهبَتْ من الأحشاءِ رُوحي

وأبدَلَتِ السعادةَ بالتأسَّي

She has plundered my soul from my very depths

and exchanged happiness for solace.

فمولدُ حُبّنَا للنّفْس ِيَبْدو

كمولدِ بسمةٍ في يوم ِنَحْسٍ

For the birth of our love appears to the soul

like the birth of a smile on an ill-omened day.

أقَاتِلَتي وما أذنَبْتُ رِفْقاً

لقد غابتْ من الأكوان ِشَمْسِي

O my slayer—though I have committed no wrong—be gentle!

Indeed, my sun has vanished from the cosmos.

وأُحْرِقَ في ربيع ِالعُمْرِ رَوْضِي

فأَمْحَلَتِ الرُّبى وكسرتُ فَأْسِي

My garden was burned in the springtime of life;

the hills grew barren, and I broke my axe.

فَلَسْتُ مُخَيّراً في عيش ِيَوْمي

ولستُ مُسَيراً في قَتْل ِأَمْسِي

Thus I am not free to choose how I live today,

nor am I driven to kill my yesterday.

لأقتحمَ الحوادثَ وهي صَرعَى

فتذبحُنِي على وعي ٍوحِسِّ

Yet I shall surely charge into calamities as they lie slain,

and they slaughter me while I remain fully aware and sentient.