دهرُنا ما عَلِمْتَهُ دهرُ ضِيْقِ

دهرُنا ما عَلِمْتَهُ دهرُ ضِيْقِ

كم أرى في بحارِهِ منْ غريقِ

كم أرى في بحارِهِ منْ غريقِ

Our age, as you have known it, is an age of hardship.

Our time that you don't know is a time of hardship

How many drowned men I see in its seas!

How many I see drowning in its seas

ما ترى الدهر كيفَ أحدثَ فينا

ما ترى الدهر كيفَ أحدثَ فينا

شركةَ العاشقين في المعشوق

شركةَ العاشقين في المعشوق

What think you of Time—how it has brought about among us

You don't see how time has made us

two lovers' partnership in one beloved?

A company of lovers with the beloved

فهو شطران يمنةً وشمالاً

فهو شطران يمنةً وشمالاً

مثل ذيلِ الدُرَّاعَةِ المشقوق

مثل ذيلِ الدُرَّاعَةِ المشقوق

So he is two halves, right and left,

It is two halves, right and left

like the split hem of an outer robe.

Like the split tail of a robe

ذا يوازيه بالثريا وهذا

ذا يوازيه بالثريا وهذا

عنده أنه أخو العيوق

عنده أنه أخو العيوق

One ranks him with the Pleiades; the other

This one equals it with the Pleiades, and that one

holds him to be Capella's brother.

Considers it the brother of Aldebaran

مستطارٌ كلاهما من جوى الو

مستطارٌ كلاهما من جوى الو

دِّ يرى بَيْضَهُ كبيض الأنوق

دِّ يرى بَيْضَهُ كبيض الأنوق

Both are distraught by the burning anguish of affection,

Both astonished at the heat of love

each seeing his eggs as the vulture's eggs.

Seeing its eggs like the eggs of the ostrich

يستجيزان قسمةَ الوصلِ بالعد

يستجيزان قسمةَ الوصلِ بالعد

ل ويستحسنانِ أخْذَ الحقوق

ل ويستحسنانِ أخْذَ الحقوق

They sanction the fair division of intimacy,

They think dividing union with separation is fair

and approve of taking their due.

And approve of taking rights

لا يملاّن من موازنةِ اللث

لا يملاّن من موازنةِ اللث

م ولا يسأمانِ كَيْلَ الريق

م ولا يسأمانِ كَيْلَ الريق

They never tire of weighing out kisses,

They don't get enough of comparing sorrows

nor weary of measuring out saliva.

And never tire of measuring tears

لم يخالفْ هذا لذا قطّ إلا

لم يخالفْ هذا لذا قطّ إلا

والتقَتْ فَيْشَتاهما في الطريق

والتقَتْ فَيْشَتاهما في الطريق

Never did this one cross the other without

This one has never opposed that one except

the tips of their penises meeting along the way.

Their swords met on the road

ما رأت مقلتايَ من قبلِ هذا

ما رأت مقلتايَ من قبلِ هذا

أو ترى رامِيَيْنِ في جَوْفِ فُوْق

أو ترى رامِيَيْنِ في جَوْفِ فُوْق

Never before this had my two eyes seen—

My eyes have never seen the like of this before

or would they see—two archers inside an arrow-nock.

Or two archers inside a single bow

فهما من هواهُ بين قريبٍ

فهما من هواهُ بين قريبٍ

في مغاني الهوى وبين سحيق

في مغاني الهوى وبين سحيق

Thus, in their love for him, one is near

They are from passionate love between a near one

in love's dwelling places, and the other far away.

And a far one in the melodies of passion

ذا كمحصي الأمواج إِذ ذكر العش

ذا كمحصي الأمواج إِذ ذكر العش

قَ وهذا كنافخٍ في بوق

قَ وهذا كنافخٍ في بوق

One is like a counter of waves when he speaks of passionate love,

This one like a measurer of waves when love was remembered

and the other like someone blowing into a horn.

And that one like a blower into a bugle