ماذا أقولُ ولا عتبٌ على الزمن

ماذا أقولُ ولا عتبٌ على الزمن

وقد فقدتك فقد العين للوسن

وقد فقدتك فقد العين للوسن

What can I say? Time is not to blame,

What can I say, and no blame on time,

Though I have lost you as the eye loses slumber.

When I have lost you like an eye its vision.

يا من حمدت فلم أذمم مودته

يا من حمدت فلم أذمم مودته

والناس وُدُّهم يُطوَى على دخن

والناس وُدُّهم يُطوَى على دخن

O you whose affection I praised and never censured,

O you whom I praised, never maligned your love,

While people's affection is folded over hidden malice.

While most people's affection can be bent by smoke.

ما كان بينك مثل يالبين أعهده

ما كان بينك مثل يالبين أعهده

وإنما بأن روحي منك من بدني

وإنما بأن روحي منك من بدني

Your parting was unlike any parting I had known;

None can compare, my dear, to the bond we knew,

Rather, because of you, my soul departed from my body.

My spirit was extracted from your very flesh.

وقد تأملت مذ شطَّت محاسنكم

وقد تأملت مذ شطَّت محاسنكم

فما عثرت على حُسنٍ ولا حَسَن

فما عثرت على حُسنٍ ولا حَسَن

And I have looked closely since your graces grew distant,

And when I contemplated your perfect graces,

Yet I have found neither beauty nor anyone fair.

I found no grace, no beauty there at all.

وشتت البين ما قد كان يجمعنا

وشتت البين ما قد كان يجمعنا

حتى كأن الذي قد كأن لم يكن

حتى كأن الذي قد كأن لم يكن

Separation scattered what once united us,

Estrangement shattered what once joined our lives,

Until it was as though what once was had never been.

As though what was, had never come to be.