تَذكَّرَ من أَحبابِه كُلَّ نازِح

تَذكَّرَ من أَحبابِه كُلَّ نازِح

بِدَمعٍ من الأَجفانِ لَيسَ بِنازِح

بِدَمعٍ من الأَجفانِ لَيسَ بِنازِح

He remembered every faraway one among his loved ones,

Every emigrant recalls his loved ones

With tears not far away from his eyelids.

With tears from the eyelids, not an emigrant

كأَنّيَ مِن مَدحِ الأَجَلِّ اِقتَنَيتُهُ

كأَنّيَ مِن مَدحِ الأَجَلِّ اِقتَنَيتُهُ

وَذَلِكَ ما لَم يَقنَهُ كُلُّ مادِح

وَذَلِكَ ما لَم يَقنَهُ كُلُّ مادِح

As though I had acquired them by praising the Most Illustrious,

It's as if I gained immortality from eulogizing death

And that is something not every panegyrist has acquired.

Something not fathomed by any eulogizer

سَواءٌ أَسَرّوا القَولَ أَو جَهروا به

سَواءٌ أَسَرّوا القَولَ أَو جَهروا به

فناصِحُهُم عَبدَ الهَوى غَيرُ ناصِح

فناصِحُهُم عَبدَ الهَوى غَيرُ ناصِح

It is all the same whether they conceal their words or speak them aloud:

Whether they whisper it or proclaim it aloud

For their adviser, O slave of passion, is no true adviser.

Their advisor is a slave of passion, not an advisor

أعاذلَه وَالعَذلُ يَنزِفُ جُرحَهُ

أعاذلَه وَالعَذلُ يَنزِفُ جُرحَهُ

لعمري لَقَد أَطفأتَ ناراً بِقادِح

لعمري لَقَد أَطفأتَ ناراً بِقادِح

O you who reproach him—reproach makes his wound bleed—

I blamed him while blame bleeds his wound

By my life, you have indeed quenched a fire with a fire-striker!

By my life, you have extinguished a fire with firewood

عرضتُ عَلى صدري غَرائبَ شَرحِهِم

عرضتُ عَلى صدري غَرائبَ شَرحِهِم

فَلَم يَنشَرِح صَدري إِلى قول شارِح

فَلَم يَنشَرِح صَدري إِلى قول شارِح

I laid before my breast the oddities of their explanations,

I presented their strange explanations to my chest

But my breast did not open to an explainer's words.

But my chest did not find relief in any explanation