1. نُباكِرُ أَم تَروحُ غَداً رَواحا

    وَلَن يَسطيعَ مَرتَهَن بَراحا

    Shall we leave at dawn, or will you depart tomorrow at day’s end?

    Yet one held captive can never get away—

  2. سَقيمٌ لا يُصابُ لَهُ دَواءُ

    أَصابَ الحُبُّ مَقلَتَهُ فَناحا

    sick, with no remedy to be found for him.

    Love struck his mortal spot, and so he wailed;

  3. وَعَذَّبَهُ الهَوى حَتّى بَراهُ

    كَبَريِ القَينِ بِالسَفَنِ القِداحا

    passion tortured him until it pared him down,

    as a smith pares arrow shafts with a rasp.

  4. فَكادَ يُذيقَهُ جُرَعَ المَنايا

    وَلَو سَقّاهُ ذالِكَ لَاِستَراحا

    It all but made him taste draughts of death;

    and had it given him that drink, he would have found rest.