أَلا لَيتَ أَنّي لا عَرَفتُ المَعاهِدا

أَلا لَيتَ أَنّي لا عَرَفتُ المَعاهِدا

فَقَد عَصَفَ الهَمُّ الَّذي كانَ راكِدا

فَقَد عَصَفَ الهَمُّ الَّذي كانَ راكِدا

Ah, would that I had never known the familiar haunts!

Alas, would that I had not known the covenants!

For the sorrow that lay dormant has raged.

For now worry, once dormant, storms within.

بَعَثتُ إِلَيها نَظرَةً خَلفَ نَظرَةٍ

بَعَثتُ إِلَيها نَظرَةً خَلفَ نَظرَةٍ

فَما وَجَدَت إِلّا شَحيحاً وَهامِدا

فَما وَجَدَت إِلّا شَحيحاً وَهامِدا

I sent toward them glance after glance,

I sent her glance after glance,

Yet it found only scant and lifeless remains.

But found naught save one tight-fisted, aloof.

فَطَلَّت عَلى أَطلالِها مُقلَتي دَما

فَطَلَّت عَلى أَطلالِها مُقلَتي دَما

فَصارَت كاسادٍ لَبِسَن مَجاسِدا

فَصارَت كاسادٍ لَبِسَن مَجاسِدا

Then my eye drizzled blood upon their ruins,

So I wept blood on her abandoned abode

So they became like lions clad in richly dyed robes.

Till like one donning mail, it was clad in rust.