كانت لنظمي رقَّةٌ

كانت لنظمي رقَّةٌ

ضنَّ الزمان بما استحقَّت

ضنَّ الزمان بما استحقَّت

There was a delicacy to my verse.

My poems once held such tenderness

Time begrudged it what it deserved.

But time betrayed what they deserved

فصرفتها عن فكرتي

فصرفتها عن فكرتي

وقطعتها من حيث رقت

وقطعتها من حيث رقت

So I turned it away from my thought,

So I turned thoughts from their caress

And severed it where it had grown thin.

And severed ties where once they swerved