ليتني أبصرتُ كياني

قبل إتْمام الأوانِ

I wish I had seen my being

Would that I had perceived my own essence

Before the end of time

Before my time had fully passed.

هِمْتُ أعدو دون وَعْي

باحثاً عن غصن بانِ

I rushed mindlessly

I wandered, running mindlessly,

Seeking a flowering branch

Searching for a slender branch of the Ban tree.

قد توارى خلف وَهْمٍ

هل أُداري ما أعاني

It hid behind an illusion

It had vanished behind a veil of illusion;

Can I endure my suffering?

Should I try to hide the suffering I endure?

لو حَباني منهُ دِفْئاً

بتُّ خصماً غير جانِ

If it had warmed me

If only he had bestowed upon me some warmth,

I would be a hostile other than self

I became an adversary without committing a crime.

راح عنّي، زاد همّي

لِمَ جَوْراً قد رماني

It left me, increasing my worries

He departed from me, and my sorrow deepened;

Why so much injustice towards me?

Why has he unjustly cast me away?

جئْتُ لا أشكوهُ حالي

فدعاني بالمُدانِ

I came not to complain of my state

I came not to complain to him of my state,

Yet it blamed me

Yet he declared me the guilty one.

قَدَري بَيْنٌ وهجرٌ

فمتى أُلْفي حناني

My fate is clarity and abandonment

My destiny is separation and abandonment,

So when will I find my tenderness?

So when will I find my tender affection?

كيف ترضى حين أشقى

مُسْتَهاماً في هَوانِ

How can you be pleased when I suffer

How can you be content while I suffer,

Lost in degradation?

As an infatuated lover cast into disgrace?

أدركيني مُنْيتي فالشـ

ـشوقُ وافى فدعاني

Take me, my death, for yearning

Rescue me, my dearest wish, for yearn-

Has called me

-ing has arrived and summoned me.

قال قلبي: شُلَّ نبضي

حُبّهُ أوْهى لساني

My heart said: my pulse has stopped

My heart said: "May my pulse be paralyzed,

Its love has silenced my tongue

For his love has enfeebled my tongue."

لم يغبْ عنّي خَيالاً

فَهْوَ طَيْفي كل آنِ

Its imagination did not disappear

His phantom has never left my mind,

It is my specter at every moment

He is my haunting vision at every moment.

ردَّ عقلي وهْوَ يُرْغي:

لا تُجادلْ من عداني

It drove back my mind while murmuring:

My mind replied, foaming with rage:

Do not argue with who opposed me

"Do not argue with the one who acts as my enemy."

تاهَ دمعي فوق خدي

إنَهُ في العينِ عانِ

My tear wandered over my cheek

My tear strayed upon my cheek,

It is hurting in the eye

For it was held captive within the eye.

كِدْتُ أَنْهي كل ماضٍ

عندما عقلي نهاني

I almost ended all the past

I was on the verge of ending all the past,

When my mind forbade me

When my mind strictly forbade me.

بعدها أسْرَرْتُ وَجْدي

وبِهِ أرْقى المعاني

Afterwards, I confessed my passion

Thereafter, I concealed my passionate love,

And with it I reached the highest meanings

Though within it lie the most sublime meanings.

يا حبيباً قد تسامتْ

نفسُهُ عن كل شانِ

Oh beloved! His soul has transcended

O beloved, whose very soul has risen

Every inferior condition

Far above every earthly matter,

سوف يُدْنيني مَقاماً

لو أنا في العشقِ دانِ

He will bring me to a station

He will bring me closer in station,

If I am wise in passion

If I draw closer in my love.