أَيُّ نارٍ ضَرِمَت في كَبِدي

أَيُّ نارٍ ضَرِمَت في كَبِدي

وَمُصابٍ قَلَّ عَنهُ جَلَدي

وَمُصابٍ قَلَّ عَنهُ جَلَدي

What a fire has blazed in my liver,

What fire has flared in my heart,

and what an affliction beyond my endurance!

What wounds have my skin insufficient to bear,

وَيَدٍ تاضَلَني الدَهرُ بِها

وَيَدٍ تاضَلَني الدَهرُ بِها

ضَعُفَت عَن رَدِها عَنكِ يَدي

ضَعُفَت عَن رَدِها عَنكِ يَدي

And what a hand Time assailed me with—

What misfortune has time afflicted me with,

my hand was too weak to ward it off from you!

Too feeble am I now to ward it off from you.

إِن غَدا مُحتَلِكاً فيكِ البَلى

إِن غَدا مُحتَلِكاً فيكِ البَلى

فَالضَنا مُحتَكِمٌ في جَسَدي

فَالضَنا مُحتَكِمٌ في جَسَدي

If decay has grown pitch-dark within you,

If ruin takes its toll upon you tomorrow,

then wasting sickness holds sway in my body.

Then grief's authority reigns in my body.

أَيُّ صَونٍ وَجَمالٍ وَتُقىً

أَيُّ صَونٍ وَجَمالٍ وَتُقىً

وَحَياءٍ جُمِعَت في مَلحَدِ

وَحَياءٍ جُمِعَت في مَلحَدِ

What chastity and beauty and piety

What modesty, beauty and virtue,

and modesty were gathered in a grave!

Were gathered and buried in the grave!

بَأَبي غائِبَةٌ عَن ناظِري

بَأَبي غائِبَةٌ عَن ناظِري

في الثَرى حاضِرَةٌ في خَلَدي

في الثَرى حاضِرَةٌ في خَلَدي

May my father be her ransom—she is absent from my sight,

My father, absent from my sight,

in the earth, yet present in my mind.

Yet present forever in my memory.

لَأُطِلَنَّ مَدى الغَمِّ عَلى

لَأُطِلَنَّ مَدى الغَمِّ عَلى

صاحِبِ العُمرِ القَصيرِ الآمَدِ

صاحِبِ العُمرِ القَصيرِ الآمَدِ

I shall surely prolong the span of grief over

I shall prolong the days of grief for

the one whose life had so brief a span.

The companion of the brief, finite life.