على رسم ذياك الحمى والمنازل

سلام يُهادى بالضحى والأصائل

Upon the traces of that sanctuary and those dwellings,

Be peace, offered as a gift at forenoon and in the late afternoons.

سلام ويا ليت الرياح تحمَّلت

إليها فؤادي والهوى كان حاملي

Peace! Oh, would that the winds carried

My heart to them, and love were my bearer!

وقفت بها وجداً ولله وقفة

أنازعها روحي ووجديَ قاتلي

I halted there in longing—by God, what a halt!

I wrestle with it for my soul, and my longing kills me.

بكيت وابكيت الرسومَ صبابةً

ورقّ لحالي خُلَّتي وعواذلي

I wept and made the ruins weep with ardent longing,

And my close companion and my reproachers softened at my plight.

خليليّ ايامُ الشباب قصيرة

وما هي الاَّ دولة بالتداولِ

My two friends, the days of youth are short,

And they are but a turn of fortune, passed from one to another.

ينغصها الاحباب بالهجر والنوى

وتقطعها الآمال قطع المراحلِ

Loved ones embitter them with abandonment and separation,

And hopes cut through them as through the stages of a journey.

وما وَصلنا الاَّ اجتماع لفرقةٍ

نودع بدراً آفلاً إثر آفلِ

And our union is but a meeting that leads to parting;

We bid farewell to one setting full moon after another.

ابى الله أن انسى على البعد عهدهم

واسلو ولو كان الوفاء مماطلي

God forbid that I forget their pledge, despite the distance,

And cease to yearn, even if faithfulness kept me waiting.

وبالله تنساني يميني اذا سلا

فؤادي ودادَ الشهم فرع الافاضلِ

And, by God, may my right hand forget me if

My heart forgets its love for the noble-hearted man, scion of the virtuous.

أسائل عنّي ناظري وهو ساكن

فؤادي ويا ليت الفؤاد مواصلي

I ask my eye about myself, while he dwells

In my heart—and oh, would that my heart kept its bond with me!

فلا فتئت اوصافك الغرّ مورداً

يخفُّ اليها للعلى كلُّ ناهلِ

So may your radiant qualities never cease to be a watering place,

To which every drinker hastens in pursuit of eminence.