كأنَّ القلب ليلةَ قيل يُغدى

كأنَّ القلب ليلةَ قيل يُغدى

بليلى العامريةِ أو يُراحُ

بليلى العامريةِ أو يُراحُ

It was as though the heart, the night they said they would set out at dawn

As if the heart one night was told it would

with Layla al-ʿAmiriyya, or at dusk,

Visit Al-Amriya's Laila or find rest,

قطاةٌ عزّها شَرَكٌ فباتت

قطاةٌ عزّها شَرَكٌ فباتت

تُعالجهُ وقد عَلِقَ الجناحُ

تُعالجهُ وقد عَلِقَ الجناحُ

were a sandgrouse overpowered by a snare, spending the night

A wildcat whose company was confinement found herself

struggling with it, its wing already caught.

Doctoring it, its wing now broken.

لها فرخانِ قد علقا بوكرٍ

لها فرخانِ قد علقا بوكرٍ

فعشّهما تصفقّه الرّياحُ

فعشّهما تصفقّه الرّياحُ

She had two chicks clinging to a nest,

It had two fledglings that clung to an empty nest—

and the winds battered their nest.

The winds would flap their cradle.

فلا بالليلِ نالتْ ما تَرجّى

فلا بالليلِ نالتْ ما تَرجّى

ولا بالصّبح كان لها بَراحُ

ولا بالصّبح كان لها بَراحُ

So at night she did not attain what she hoped for,

So neither night nor morning brought what she hoped for,

nor at dawn was there any escape for her.

Nor did the dawn grant her relief.