أصبحتُ لا أشكو الخطوبَ وإنَّما

أصبحتُ لا أشكو الخطوبَ وإنَّما

أشكو زماناً لم يَدع لي مُشتكى

أشكو زماناً لم يَدع لي مُشتكى

I have come to complain no more of calamities; I only

I no longer complain of calamities, but rather

lament an age that has left me no one to whom I might lament.

I complain of a time that left me no one to complain to.

أفني أخِلاّئي وأهلَ مَودَّتي

أفني أخِلاّئي وأهلَ مَودَّتي

وأبادَ إخوانَ الصّفاءِ وأهلَكا

وأبادَ إخوانَ الصّفاءِ وأهلَكا

It has taken my intimate friends, my family—all whom I loved—

It destroyed my close friends and those I loved,

and annihilated the brothers of true fellowship, destroying them.

And wiped out my brothers in sincere friendship and destroyed them.

عاشوا براحَتِهِم ومِتُّ لِفقدهم

عاشوا براحَتِهِم ومِتُّ لِفقدهم

فعليَّ يَبكي لا عَلَيهم مَن بَكى

فعليَّ يَبكي لا عَلَيهم مَن بَكى

They lived in comfort, while I was kept alive to suffer their loss;

They live at ease, while I have died from losing them;

so let whoever weeps, weep for me—not for them.

So whoever weeps should weep for me, not for them.

وبقيتُ بعدَهُمُ كأنِّي حائِرٌ

وبقيتُ بعدَهُمُ كأنِّي حائِرٌ

بمَفازَةٍ لم يلقَ فيها مَسْلَكا

بمَفازَةٍ لم يلقَ فيها مَسْلَكا

I remained after them as though bewildered,

And I remained after them, like one bewildered

in a trackless wilderness, finding no way through.

In a desert where he has found no path.