إن حان لحنُ الختام

صار النشيد دعاء

If the closing melody has come,

the song becomes a prayer;

مرّ الهوى في سلام

فلنفترق أصدقاء

love has passed in peace—

so let us part as friends.

سرّ وراء الظنون

أظلِّني وأضاء

A secret beyond all surmise

cast its shade over me and shone.

لم أدر ماذا يكون

ولم أسَل كيف جاء

I did not know what it might be,

nor did I ask how it came,

ما بين ضحك الرِّياح

وقهقهات الغيوب

between the laughter of the winds

and the guffaws of the unseen.

ولّى خيالٌ وراح

وحلّ ظلٌّ غريب

My vision turned away and departed,

and a strange darkness settled in.

يا ذنبُ فات المتاب

لما تحطًَّم صرحي

O sin, the time for repentance has passed,

now that my edifice has shattered.

ما لي عليها عتاب

إني أعاتب جُرحي

I bear her no reproach;

it is my wound that I reproach.

وهذه قيثاري

ذاتُ الشجى والأنين

And here is my lyre,

bearing sorrow and lament;

وهذه أوتاري

أصرتِ لا تطربين

and here are my strings,

insisting: “Play no joyful strains.”

يا كم شدوتُ بلحني

ما بين حزني ودمعي

Ah, how often I sang my melody

between my sorrow and my tears.

ما باله طيَّ أذني

لكن غريباً لسمعي

What has befallen it, folded within my ear?

Yet it sounds strange to my hearing.