1. كَلامُكَ حُرٌّ وَالكَلامُ غُلامُ

    وَسِحرٌ وَلَكِن لَيسَ فيهِ حَرامُ

    Your speech is freeborn; other speech is a slave.

    And magic—yet nothing in it is forbidden.

  2. وَدُرٌّ وَلَكِن بَينَ جنبيكَ بَحرهُ

    وَزَهرٌ وَلَكِن الفُؤادَ كِمامُ

    And pearls—yet their sea lies between your ribs.

    And blossoms—yet the heart is their calyx.

  3. وَبَعدُ فإِن وَدَّعتَني بخَداعَةٍ

    فَحَقّيَ أَن يَجني عَلَيهِ السَلامُ

    And now, if you bade me farewell with deceit,

    then that farewell wrongs what is owed to me.

  4. أَعنِّي عَلى نَفسي بِتَزويد أَسهلي

    بَلى وَقُل فَلا شَيء عَلَيك حَرامُ

    “Help me against myself with provisions”—my easiest reply

    is “Yes”; and speak, for nothing is forbidden to you.

  5. فدونكَهُ إِذ لَم أَجِد ليَ حيلَةً

    وَقَلبيَ فاِعلَم في الطَعامِ طَعامُ

    So take it, since I have found no recourse for myself;

    and my heart—know this—is food among the food.

  6. فَهَنَّئتَهُ زاداً وَفي الصَدر وَقدَةٌ

    وَلِلصَبر مِن دونِ الفُؤادِ غَرامُ

    So you blessed it as provisions, while a flame burns in my breast;

    and patience, bereft of the heart, suffers lasting torment.

  7. لَقَد كانَ فألٌ مِن سمائِكَ مؤنسٌ

    فَقَد عادَ ضدّا وَالعَراءُ رمامُ

    A comforting omen once came from your sky;

    now it has become its opposite, and the open land lies in ruins.

  8. تَحَلَّيتَ بِالداني وَأَنتَ مُباعِدٌ

    فَيا طيبَ بَدءٍلَو تَلاهُ تَمامُ

    You adorned yourself with al-Dani, “the near,” yet keep your distance.

    How sweet a beginning, had fulfillment followed it!

  9. وَيا عَجَباً حَتّى السِماتُ تخونني

    وَحَتّى اِنتِباهي للصّديقِ مَنامُ

    And how strange—even the signs betray me,

    and even my vigilance toward a friend is slumber.

  10. أَضاءَ لَنا أَغمات قُربُك بُرهَةً

    وَعادَ بِها حين اِرتَحلتَ ظَلامُ

    Your nearness lit Aghmat for us for a while,

    and darkness returned there when you departed.

  11. تَسيرُ إِلى أَرضٍ بِها كُنتَ مُضغةً

    وَفيها اِكتَسَت باللَحمِ منك عِظامُ

    You journey to a land where you were a morsel of flesh,

    and there your bones were clothed in flesh.

  12. وَأَبقى أَسامُ الذلَّ في أَرضِ غُربَةٍ

    وَما كُنتُ لَولا الغَدر ذاكَ أُسامُ

    While I remain, made to suffer humiliation in a land of exile,

    and but for treachery, I would not have been subjected to that.

  13. فَبُلِّغتُها في ظلِّ أَمنٍ وَغِبطَةٍ

    وَسُنّيَ لي مِمّا يعوقُ سَلامُ

    So may I be brought there in the shade of safety and joy,

    and may I be granted safety from whatever holds me back.