إِذا كُنتِ قوتَ النَفسِ ثُمَّ هَجَرتِها

إِذا كُنتِ قوتَ النَفسِ ثُمَّ هَجَرتِها

فَكَم تَلبَثُ النَفسُ الَّتي أَنتِ قوتُها

فَكَم تَلبَثُ النَفسُ الَّتي أَنتِ قوتُها

If you were the soul’s sustenance and then abandoned it,

If you were the food of my soul, then abandoned it

then how long can the soul whose sustenance you are survive?

How long can the soul last, when you are its nourishment?

أَغَرَّكِ أَنّي قَد تَصَبَّرتُ جاهِداً

أَغَرَّكِ أَنّي قَد تَصَبَّرتُ جاهِداً

وَفي النَفسِ مِنّي مِنكِ ما سَيُميتُها

وَفي النَفسِ مِنّي مِنكِ ما سَيُميتُها

Has it deceived you that I have struggled to be patient,

Does it fool you that I have endured stoically?

while within my soul lies something from you that will kill it?

While within my soul, there is enough of you in me to kill it

سَأَصبِرُ صَبرَ الضَبِّ في الماءِ أَو كَما

سَأَصبِرُ صَبرَ الضَبِّ في الماءِ أَو كَما

يَعيشُ بِدَيمومِ الصَريمَةِ حوتُها

يَعيشُ بِدَيمومِ الصَريمَةِ حوتُها

I shall endure as a desert lizard endures in water, or as

I will endure with the patience of a hyena in water or like

its fish lives in the trackless desert of al-Ṣarīmah.

The whale lives with the permanence of deprivation