أفدي التي استودَعْتُها بَطْنَ الثَّرى

أفدي التي استودَعْتُها بَطْنَ الثَّرى

وأبَنْتُها عنِّي برغمي مجبَرا

وأبَنْتُها عنِّي برغمي مجبَرا

I would give my life for her whom I entrusted to the earth's belly,

I ransom with my soul her whom I buried in the earth's bosom,

And whom I was forced to part from, against my will.

And whom against my will I parted from me by force.

تاللّهِ ما اخترتُ التوقُّفَ ساعةً

تاللّهِ ما اخترتُ التوقُّفَ ساعةً

من بعدِ يومِكِ لو خُلِقْتُ مُخَيَّرا

من بعدِ يومِكِ لو خُلِقْتُ مُخَيَّرا

By God, I would not have chosen to linger a single hour

By Allah, after your day I would not have chosen to tarry one hour,

After your day of death, had I been created free to choose.

Had I been created with the power of choice.

يا ليتَ أنكِ بالضِيَا من ناظِري

يا ليتَ أنكِ بالضِيَا من ناظِري

وسوادُهُ لكِ موطِئٌ دونَ الثَّرى

وسوادُهُ لكِ موطِئٌ دونَ الثَّرى

Oh, would that you were in the light of my eye,

Oh would that you were before my eyes in place of the darkness,

And its blackness were your resting place instead of the earth.

And that darkness were beneath the earth instead of you.

غُصنانِ مؤتلفانِ أَفْرَدَ واحِداً

غُصنانِ مؤتلفانِ أَفْرَدَ واحِداً

ريبُ المنيَّةِ منهما فتهصَّرا

ريبُ المنيَّةِ منهما فتهصَّرا

Two entwined branches—one was set apart

Two entwined branches has fate severed into one,

From the pair by death's calamity, and so it broke.

Doubting not the stroke of death which made them wither.

ما ضرَّهُ فيما جَنَاهُ عليهما

ما ضرَّهُ فيما جَنَاهُ عليهما

لو كانَ قدَّم منهما ما أخَّرَا

لو كانَ قدَّم منهما ما أخَّرَا

What harm would it have suffered, in the wrong it did them,

No harm came to him from what befell them,

Had it taken first the one of them it left for later?

If he had preferred what came after to what went before.

هيهاتَ أنْ يبقى الحُطَامُ بِحَالِه

هيهاتَ أنْ يبقى الحُطَامُ بِحَالِه

من بعدِما هصرَ الأغضَّ الأنضرا

من بعدِما هصرَ الأغضَّ الأنضرا

Impossible for the dry, broken stalk to remain as it was,

Alas! The wreck cannot remain in its condition,

After it broke the tenderer, greener branch.

After the greener of the two greens has withered.