وَشاعِرٍ أَثقَلُ مِن هِجرَةٍ

وَشاعِرٍ أَثقَلُ مِن هِجرَةٍ

حَلَّت فَحَلَّت عُقدَةَ الوَصلِ

حَلَّت فَحَلَّت عُقدَةَ الوَصلِ

And a poet, more burdensome than estrangement

And a poet heavier than a migration

that befell and undid the knot of union,

That untied, untied the knot of connection

يَقيسُ أَشعاري بِأَشعارِهِ

يَقيسُ أَشعاري بِأَشعارِهِ

وَمَن يَقيسُ الرَأسَ بِالنَصلِ

وَمَن يَقيسُ الرَأسَ بِالنَصلِ

compares my poems with his poems;

He measures my poems with his poems

and who compares the head with the blade?

And who measures the head with an axe