كان هزاراً طَرِباً

بالحسن مفتنَّا

He was cheerfully singing

Infatuated by beauty

فابتسمَ الحبُّ لَهُ

فأحسن الظَّنَّا

Then love smiled at him

So he wished well

ثمَّ رماه بالتي

تبدِّلُ اللحنا

But then love struck him with affliction

That changes the tune

باتَ يهيمُ نائحاً

وطالما غنَّى

He started wandering sadly

Though long he had sung

حُكْم به الحب قضى

ما أْظلَمَ القاضي

Love judged him

How unfair the judge!

حَسْبُك أن ترضى به

فإنني راضِ

Be content with it

For I am pleased

دعكَ من الماضي فلو

عدت إلى الماضي

Leave the past be

If you returned to the past

وجدتَ وصلَ ساعةٍ

ودهرَ إعراضِ

You'd find an hour's union

And an age's abandonment

صحّ الذي جرّبتُه

عند أبي سلمى

What I have tasted

In the words of Abi Salma

الحبُّ يقتاد الفتى

وقلبُه أعمى

Love leads the youth

While his heart is blind

يسمو به حتى إذا

بوَّأهُ النجما

It elevates him until when

It brings him to the stars

رمى به من حالقٍ

يَحْطِمُهُ حَطْما

It throws him from the summit

Shattering him to pieces

عاش كلانا بالمنى

نُرسلُها شعرا

We both lived with hope

Sending it out in poetry

تلكَ رُفاةٌ بَلِيَتْ

تبعثُها الذكرى

That is mere dust

Revived by memories

نصوغُها ابتسامةً

أو دمعةً تُذْرى

We shape it into a smile

Or tears that flow

نَشْقى به حتى تحينَ

الراحةُ الكبرى

We suffer until comes

The grand respite