1. إن من تهواه قد ظعنا

    فاندب الأطلال والدمنا

    Indeed, the one you love has departed.

    So mourn the ruins and the campsite traces.

  2. واخدع القلب الذي صحبوا

    وخداع النافرين عنا

    And beguile the heart they took with them,

    though beguiling those who flee is weary toil.

  3. واسل عن طيب الحياة فقد

    صرت لا قلباً ولا سكنا

    And forget the sweetness of life, for

    you now have neither a heart nor solace.

  4. لا تقل أرجو الإياب فكم

    نازح بعد البعاد دنا

    Do not say, “I hope for their return, for many

    a distant one has drawn near after separation.”

  5. فهو دهر كان ملتهياً

    عنكم والآن قد فطنا

    For this is Time, once heedless

    of you, but now it has taken notice.

  6. جيرة والله بعدهم

    لم أجد حسناً ولا حسنا

    Neighbors—by God, after their departure,

    I have found neither beauty nor anyone beautiful.

  7. سلبوا روحي فليتهم

    عوضوني عودهم ثمنا

    They stole my soul; if only they

    would compensate me with their return as payment.

  8. ودروا أني أموت بهم

    فكسوني بالضنا كفنا

    And they knew I was dying for them,

    so they clothed me in a shroud of wasting sickness.

  9. ما على الحادي العجول بهم

    حرج لو يحبس البدنا

    For the camel driver hurrying them along, there would be no

    blame if he held back the camels.

  10. فعسى روح معلقة

    بهم أن تذكر الوطنا

    So perhaps a soul bound

    to them might remember the homeland.

  11. قلت للبدر المنير وقد

    غاب من أربى عليه سنا

    I said to the radiant full moon, when

    the one who surpassed it in radiance had vanished:

  12. غب أو اطلع إن أردت فما

    فيك لي عن من فقدت غنى

    “Set or rise, if you wish, for nothing

    in you can make up for the one I have lost.”

  13. أنبأتني الشمس عنه وعن

    بدرها إذ غاب واقترنا

    The sun told me of him, and of

    her full moon, when he vanished and the two conjoined:

  14. نحن كنا إخوة شرفاً

    فأصاب الدهر أحسننا

    “We were siblings in nobility,

    then Time struck the fairest of us.”

  15. وسألت الدوح بعدهم

    هل أمالت نسمة غصنا

    And I asked the grove after their departure:

    “Has a breeze bent a branch,

  16. أو تمشت في خمائله

    ذات طوق تبعث الشجنا

    or has there wandered through its thickets

    a collared dove, stirring sorrow,

  17. أو سقاه الطل مضطجعاً

    فلوى أعطافه وثنى

    or has the dew watered it as it reclined,

    so it twisted its sides and bent?”

  18. قال لي ذاك النسيم نأى

    مذ تناءوا والغمام ونى

    It said to me, “That breeze has gone far away

    since they departed, and the clouds have languished;

  19. وعيون النور قد رمدت

    وغناء الورق عاد عنا

    and the blossoms’ eyes have grown sore,

    and the gray doves’ song has turned to anguish.

  20. فإذا ملنا فلا طرب

    بل لأن الورق نحن لنا

    So when we sway, it is not from joy,

    but because the gray doves have mourned for us.”

  21. سادتي هل بعد بعدكم

    ترجع الأيام تجمعنا

    My lords, after your departure, will

    the days return to bring us together?

  22. أرتجي واليأس يهزأ بي

    أن يضم الدهر ألفتنا

    I hope—though despair mocks me—

    that Time may reunite our fellowship.

  23. وضلال الحب غادر

    لي فيكم بعد المنون منى

    And love’s delusion has left

    me hopes of you beyond death.

  24. إن قضى صب يهيم علي

    فقد أحباب نأوا فأنا

    If a lovesick man has died, distraught over

    the loss of loved ones gone far away, then I am he.

  25. فسقاكم كل سارية

    من دموعي تخجل المزنا

    So may every night-travelling cloud water you,

    formed of my tears, putting the rain clouds to shame.