أبثُّك ما الحَديثُ به شجُونا

أبثُّك ما الحَديثُ به شجُونا

حَوادثَ ما يُصَدَّقُ أن تَكُونا

حَوادثَ ما يُصَدَّقُ أن تَكُونا

I confide to you what sorrows its telling holds—

I confide to you what brings sorrow in the telling:

events one can scarcely believe could ever be.

events one cannot believe could ever happen.

وقبلَ اليَوم كنتُ بماءِ وَجهي

وقبلَ اليَوم كنتُ بماءِ وَجهي

شَحيحاً لا أجُودُ به ضنِينا

شَحيحاً لا أجُودُ به ضنِينا

Before today, I guarded the water of my face,

And before today, with my face’s water—my honor—I was

too miserly, too loath to spend it.

miserly, refusing to give it freely, jealously sparing it.

يُعلِّمُني السَّماحَ به زَمانٌ

يُعلِّمُني السَّماحَ به زَمانٌ

تُنَسِّيني نَوائبُه المَنُونا

تُنَسِّيني نَوائبُه المَنُونا

Now Time teaches me to lavish it—

Time teaches me to give it freely;

its blows so dire they make me forget death.

its calamities make me forget death.

أبا حسَنٍ وأيَّامُ الرَّزايا

أبا حسَنٍ وأيَّامُ الرَّزايا

تُطاوِلُني فأحسَبُها سِنِينا

تُطاوِلُني فأحسَبُها سِنِينا

Abū Ḥasan, the days of affliction

O Abu Hasan, the days of calamity

draw themselves out against me till I count them years.

drag on for me, so I reckon them as years.

وما وجهٌ يُذالُ إِليكَ يوماً

وما وجهٌ يُذالُ إِليكَ يوماً

فَيَعرفُهُ الوَرى إِلا مَصُونا

فَيَعرفُهُ الوَرى إِلا مَصُونا

Yet no face is ever humbled in turning to you

And no face ever humbled in appeal to you

but all mankind comes to know it as inviolate.

is known to the world except as one kept in honor.

بكيتُ نوائباً خلقت فأمشي

بكيتُ نوائباً خلقت فأمشي

بهنَّ على النَّوائب مُستَعينا

بهنَّ على النَّوائب مُستَعينا

I wept over calamities until they grew old; now I walk

I wept over calamities grown threadbare, and so I walk,

with them, enlisting them against calamity.

seeking their aid against calamities.

كأنَّ مَقاصِدي أمسَت عُيُونا

كأنَّ مَقاصِدي أمسَت عُيُونا

وقَد غَدتِ الخُطوبُ لها جُفُونا

وقَد غَدتِ الخُطوبُ لها جُفُونا

It is as though my aspirations have become eyes,

It is as though my aims have become eyes,

and disasters have turned into their eyelids.

and calamities have become their eyelids.

وهل تَرضَى وحُكمُ نَداكَ أمضَى

وهل تَرضَى وحُكمُ نَداكَ أمضَى

بأن أُمسِي لَها أبداً رَهِينا

بأن أُمسِي لَها أبداً رَهِينا

Would you consent—when the decree of your bounty is mightier—

And would you consent, when your bounty’s decree is more decisive,

that I should remain their prisoner forever?

that I should forever be their captive?