هل عند من عندهم برئي وأسقامي

علم بأن نواهم أصل آلامي

Do those who hold my healing and my ailments have

any knowledge that their distance is the source of my pains,

وأن قلبي وجفني بعد بعدهم

ذا دائم وجده فيهم وذا دامي

and that my heart and my eyelid, after their departure—

the one forever yearns for them, while the other bleeds?

بانوا فبان رقادي يوم بينهم

فلست أطمع من طيف بإلمام

They departed, and my sleep departed on the day of their parting;

so I have no hope of a visit from a dream-phantom.

كتمت شأن الهوى يوم النوى فنما

بسره من جفوني أي نمام

I hid love's affair on the day of parting, yet it was divulged:

its secret told by a consummate tale-bearer from my eyelids.

كانت ليالي بيضاً في دنوهم

فلا تسل بعدهم عن حال أيامي

My nights were white when they were near;

so do not ask how my days fare after their departure.

ضنيت وجداً بهم والناس تحسب بي

سقماً فأبهم حالي عند لوامي

I have wasted away with yearning for them, while people suppose I have

an illness; so my condition is obscure to my reproachers.

وليس أصل ضنى جسمي النحيل سوى

فرط اشتياقي إلى لقيا ابن تمام

Yet the cause of my frail body's wasting is nothing but

my intense longing to meet Ibn Tammam.

مولىً متى أخل من برؤ برؤيته

خلوت منه بأشجان وأسقام

A lord—whenever I lack the healing brought by seeing him,

I am left without him, with sorrows and ailments.

نأى ورؤيته عندي أحب إلي

قلبي من الماء عند الحائم الظامي

He has gone far away, though seeing him is, to me, dearer to

my heart than water to the thirsting one who circles it.

وصد عني ولم يسأل بجفوته

عن هائم دمعه من بعده هامي

And he turned away from me and, in his coldness, did not ask

about one crazed with love, whose tears stream since his departure.

يا ليت شعري ألم يبلغه أن له

أخاً بمصر ضعيف الجسم مذ عام

If only I knew—has he not heard that he has

a brother in Egypt, frail in body for a year?

ما كان ظني هذا في مودته

ولا الحديث كذا عن ساكن الشام

This was not what I expected of his affection,

nor was such the talk about the dweller in al-Sham.

يا غائباً داره قلبي ولو هجعت

عيني لأدنته مني رسل أحلامي

O absent one whose home is my heart—if sleep came to

my eye, the messengers of my dreams would bring him near me.

أصبحت بعد اشتطاطي في الحقيقة من

لقياك أخدع آمالي بأوهام

I have come, after being truly far removed from

meeting you, to deceive my hopes with illusions.

هذا ولم يبق لي في لذة أرب

إلا اجتماعي بأصحابي وألزامي

All this, though no desire for any pleasure remains to me,

except gathering with my friends and my close companions.

وإن هم خلفوني مفرداً ونأوا

وافيت أسهر أجفاني لنوام

And if they leave me behind, alone, and go far away,

I find myself keeping my eyelids wakeful for sleepers.

وأين نيل مرامي من لقائهم

ضاق الزمان وهياً سهمه الرامي

And how can I attain my wish to meet them?

Time has grown strait and readied its arrow to strike.

ولت بشاشة أيامي فلو عرضت

علي أعرضت عنها غير مستام

The cheer of my days has passed; if it were offered

to me, I would turn away from it, not seeking to buy it.

هل بعد سبعين لي إلا التأهب من

أجل الرحيل بإسراج وإلجام

After seventy, have I anything left but making ready

for departure by saddling and bridling?

الناس يرجون ما قد قدموا لغدٍ

والخوف من سوء ما قدمت قدامي

People hope in what they have sent ahead for tomorrow;

and before me stands fear of the evil in what I have sent ahead.

ولست أرجو سوى عفو الإله وأن

ألقى السلامة في الأخرى بإسلامي

And I hope for nothing but God's pardon, and that

I may find safety in the Hereafter through my Muslim faith.

بلى وحب الذي أرجوه يشفع لي

غداً إذا جئته أسعى بآثامي

Yes, and love for the One in whom I hope will intercede for me

tomorrow, when I come hastening to Him with my sins.

فاذكر أخاك بظهر الغيب وادعوا له

فأنت في نفسه من خير أقوام

So remember your brother in his absence, and pray for him,

for in his esteem you are among the best of people.

لعل يجمعنا في دار رحمته

من عفوه فوق إسرافي وإجرامي

May He unite us in the abode of His mercy—

He whose pardon surpasses my excesses and my wrongdoing.

عليك مني سلام الله ما ابتسمت

أزاهر الروض من دمع الحيا الهامي

God's peace be upon you from me, as long as they smile—

the garden's blossoms, at the rain's streaming tears.