فرارُكما بالأمس بغَّضني أمسي

فرارُكما بالأمس بغَّضني أمسي

ولو قلتما لي كان أطيبَ للنفسِ

ولو قلتما لي كان أطيبَ للنفسِ

Your flight yesterday made me loathe my yesterday;

Your flight yesterday made me loathe my yesterday.

Had you but told me, it would have been kinder to the soul.

Had you told me, it would have been sweeter to the soul.

وما جازَ ما جاوزتماه ولم يكن

وما جازَ ما جاوزتماه ولم يكن

ليذهب تلبيسٌ على معدن اللُّبسِ

ليذهب تلبيسٌ على معدن اللُّبسِ

What you overstepped was not permissible, nor could

What you did was not permissible, nor could

deception work upon guile’s very wellspring.

deception get past the very source of deceit.

توحشتما مني لأنسي إليكما

توحشتما مني لأنسي إليكما

فلم تُنصفاني في التوحُّش من أنسي

فلم تُنصفاني في التوحُّش من أنسي

You grew estranged from me because I felt at home with you;

You both grew estranged from me because of my closeness to you;

You did me no justice—estranging yourselves from my warmth.

and were unfair to me in recoiling from my closeness.

ولولا انبساطي لم تكونا انقبضتما

ولولا انبساطي لم تكونا انقبضتما

فكافأتُماني في المودة بالعكس

فكافأتُماني في المودة بالعكس

Had I not been so openhearted, you would never have withdrawn;

But for my openness, you would not have withdrawn;

Thus you repaid my affection with its opposite.

so you repaid my affection with its opposite.

ومن يبخس الإخوانَ بعض حقوقهم

ومن يبخس الإخوانَ بعض حقوقهم

فذاك حقيق أن يكافوه بالبخس

فذاك حقيق أن يكافوه بالبخس

Whoever shortchanges his friends in some of their rights

And whoever denies his brethren some of their due,

deserves that they repay him with the same short measure.

deserves to be repaid by them with the same deprivation.

ولولا حيائي منكما كنتُ واصفاً

ولولا حيائي منكما كنتُ واصفاً

فعالكما وصفاً يُخلَّد في الطرس

فعالكما وصفاً يُخلَّد في الطرس

Were I not ashamed before you, I would have described

Were it not for my modesty before you both, I would describe

your conduct in words immortalized upon the page.

your deeds in an account immortalized on the page.

ولكن إذا جيشٌ من الكيد راعني

ولكن إذا جيشٌ من الكيد راعني

جثوت له من محكم الصبر في تُرسِ

جثوت له من محكم الصبر في تُرسِ

But when an army of guile alarms me,

But when an army of guile alarms me,

I crouch against it behind a shield of tempered patience.

I kneel before it behind a shield of steadfast patience.

فقل لحبيبٍ لا أُحب جفاءه

فقل لحبيبٍ لا أُحب جفاءه

عين الشمس يا مُشبه الشمس

عين الشمس يا مُشبه الشمس

Then tell a beloved whose coldness I cannot love:

So say to a beloved whose coldness I do not love:

“O eye of the sun, O likeness of the sun!”

The eye of the sun, O you who resemble the sun.