أترك الشط آه بالرغم مني

لو درى الشط لوعتي لبكى لي

I leave the shore, alas against my will,

If the shore knew my torment, it would weep for me.

قد شربناك أيها الملح عذبا

وشهيّا كأنه من زلال

We drank you, o salt, sweet,

And delicious, as if it were from the purest nectar.

وسبحنا وللجمال خيال

آه من فتنتي بذاك الخيال

We swam, to imagination’s beauty, an illusion.

Alas for my infatuation with that illusion!

وضللنا وللضلال جمال

أين بحر الهدى وبحر الضلال

We went astray, for straying has its charm.

Where is the sea of guidance, and the sea of straying?

هجر الشط عاشقوه وساروا

فغدا الشط ظلمة في الليالي

The shore’s lovers deserted it and left.

So it became darkness in the nights.

ما مقامي وقد غدا الشط قفراً

لا ترى فيه لحظ ذاك الغزال

How can I stay when the shore has become a wasteland,

Where you see no trace of that gazelle,

والبنات المكحلات بكحل

هو في روحه شقيق الدلال

Or the kohl-eyed maidens with their kohl.

It is in spirit the twin of vanishing.

أين ولين أين أين أجبني

يا نديمي بالروح والآمال

Where, oh where, oh where are you? Answer me,

My companion in spirit and hopes!

قد خبا الصيف قد خبت جمرات

كن يلذّذن كالرحيق ببالي

Summer has waned, its embers have cooled,

That once delighted me like syrup in my mind.

وشتاء أتى وبرد ثقيل

هو أردى من طلعة العذال

And a harsh, heavy winter has come

Harsher than the rising of a foe.

لا أبالي ما يرجفون سفاها

فنعيمي في قيلهم بعد قال

I care not what the foolish shake about.

My bliss is in their words, after their words.

جهلوا العشق فاستطالوا علينا

يلعن اللَه عصبة الجهال

They are ignorant of love, so they impose on us.

May God curse the troop of the ignorant!

لا أبالي بكيدهم لا أبالي

لا أبالي بكيدهم لا أبالي

I care not for their plots, I care not,

I care not for their plots, I care not!