1. غدرتم ولولا الغدر ما كان لي عذر

    فجاء على قصدي وقصدتم الأمر

    You betrayed me; but for betrayal, I would have had no excuse.

    Thus it served my purpose, while you meant the bitterer outcome.

  2. وجدتم مجالاً للقلى وكذا أنا

    فما ضاق لي يوماً ولا لكم صدر

    You found room for aversion, and so did I;

    so neither my breast nor yours ever felt constricted.

  3. فلا أشتكي منكم ملالاً لأنكم

    هجرتم بحمد الله إذ طاب لي الهجر

    So I do not complain of your weariness, since you

    abandoned me—praise be to God—when abandonment had grown sweet to me.

  4. فإن تدعوا عنا اصطباراً فهكذا

    أتانا بلا دعوى كما نشتهي الصبر

    If you claim endurance without us, then likewise

    patience came to us without claims, just as we wished.

  5. وإن تشكروا حكم البعاد فللنوى

    علينا إياد لا يقوم بها الشكر

    And if you give thanks for separation's decree, then separation

    has done us favors that gratitude cannot repay.

  6. وكنت أظن الصبر مراً مذاقه

    فمذ ذقته أيقنت أن الهوى المر

    And I had thought patience tasted bitter,

    but once I tasted it, I knew it was passion that was bitter.

  7. فكونوا كما شئتم فإنا كما نشا

    صحونا جميعاً وانجلى ذلك السكر

    So be as you wish, for we are as we wish;

    we have all sobered, and that intoxication has lifted.

  8. فكم تهت من قد هناك وطلعة

    بغصن ولا غصن وبدر ولا بدر

    How often I was entranced by a figure there and a face—

    a bough, yet no bough; a full moon, yet no full moon.

  9. وإن كان زيد صدكم عن وصالنا

    فلم تخطئوا شيئاً كذا صدنا عمرو

    And if Zayd turned you away from union with us,

    then you did nothing wrong; Amr turned us away likewise.

  10. وإن كنتم أنسيتم العهد فاسألوا

    ليخبركم هل مر يوماً له ذكر

    And if you have been made to forget the pledge, then ask,

    to be told whether it was ever mentioned.

  11. تقضي الهوى منا ومنكم فكلنا

    سواء ولكن منكم بدأ الشر

    Passion has run its course in us and in you; we are all

    alike, but the wrong began with you.

  12. ولا شر في أمر عرفنا به الذي

    لنا عندكم حتى استوى السر والجهر

    And no wrong lies in an act through which we learned what

    we mean to you, until the hidden and the open became one.

  13. فلا مقلة عبرى بأجفانها قذى

    ولا كبد حرى بأثنائها جمر

    So no tearful eye has grit beneath its lids,

    nor does a burning liver have embers in its folds;

  14. ولا زادنا حب جوى كل ليلة

    ولا سلوة الأيام موعدها الحشر

    nor does love add to our heartache every night,

    nor must the solace of days await the Resurrection.

  15. وكنا كما شاء الغرام كأننا

    لفرط امتزاج بيننا الماء والخمر

    And we were as passion willed, as though we were,

    through our utter mingling, water and wine.

  16. فكم ليلة ما شاب إظلامها دجى

    وكم ليلة بالهجر ما شابها فجر

    How many a night had darkness untouched by gloom,

    and how many a night of estrangement was untouched by dawn.

  17. فأعقبكم ذاك الوفاء ملالة

    فلا بأس هذا الغدر شيمته الغدر

    So that faithfulness brought you weariness;

    so no harm: treachery is this faithless one's nature.

  18. وإني وإن ألفيت في ذاك راحة

    وباتت يدي منكم وراحتها صفر

    And I, though I found relief in that,

    and my hand and its palm were left empty of you,

  19. لمثن ولكن لا يقابل هجركم

    سوى الهجر لا عتب يمض ولا هجر

    do offer praise; yet nothing answers your abandonment

    save abandonment—no stinging reproach, nor foul speech.