حسبت الدهر في ولدي

يساعدني ويسعدني

I thought that time, concerning my son,

would help me and make me happy,

أو الأيام تنعشه

من الأسقام والمحن

or that the days would revive him

from sicknesses and ordeals,

وأن الموت يمهله

ويحنو لي ويرحمني

and that death would grant him respite

and be gentle to me and show me mercy.

فخان الدهر والأيا

م أبت للأنس يرفقني

But time betrayed me, and the days

refused to grant me gentle companionship.

وخاب رجاي في أملي

وفي ولدي وفي زمني

And my hopes were dashed in what I wished for,

and in my son, and in my time.

سأبكي ما استطعت على

بني كان يألفني

I shall weep, as long as I can, for

my son, who was fond of me.

وكنت به وكنت له

مثال الروح في البدن

And I was, with him, and I was to him,

like the soul within the body.

فصار جاور الديما

س رهن اللحد والكفن

So he came to dwell in the crypt,

a captive of the grave-niche and the shroud.

وقد كان الفؤاد له

محلاً دون ذا السكن

Yet my heart had once been for him

a home, instead of this abode.

وفرق شملنا زمن

بثأر العيش يطلبني

And time has torn our union apart,

pursuing me in vengeance for living.

فكم دهري يعاندني

ويفضحني ويثكلني

How often my time opposes me,

shames me and bereaves me!

فيا ويلي ويا حربي

ويا همي ويا حزني

Oh, my woe, and oh, my ruin!

And oh, my anguish, and oh, my sorrow!

ترحل ثم خلفني

ونار الشوق تقلقني

He departed, then left me behind,

while the fire of longing torments me.

فمنذ غدا وفارقني

فلم ألتذ بالوسن

Ever since he went away and left me,

I have found no delight in slumber.

فما أنسى أنامله

وكفاه تصافحني

I cannot forget his fingertips,

and his two hands clasping mine,

ويرنو لي بمقتله

ويدنو لي يودعني

and how he gazes toward me at his death,

and draws near to bid me farewell.

وقد جد الحمام به

كجد السير بالظعن

And death had pressed urgently upon him,

like the haste of travel with the departing caravan.

أكاد إذا تخيل لي

خيال منه يطرقني

I am on the verge, whenever there appears to me

a phantom of him visiting me by night,

أحن ولا أفيق لمن

يحدثني ويردعني

of moaning with longing; I cannot be roused by whoever

speaks to me and tries to restrain me.

أحس لمهجتي شرراً

يكويها ويلذ عني

I feel sparks in my heart's core

that sear it and sting me.

فليت فمي إذا ضحكت

به سني يفارقني

Would that my mouth, whenever my tooth smiled

within it, would part from me.

وليت إذا رأت عينا

ي طفلاً لا تساقبني

And would that, whenever my two eyes saw

a child, they would not stay close to me,

وفي خدي تسيل عمى

فلم أرها ولم ترني

and would flow down my cheek in blindness,

so I would not see them, nor would they see me.

وليت إذا وعت أذني

حديثاً لا يصاحبني

And would that, whenever my ear heard

speech, it would no longer accompany me.

وليت الموت عاجلني

وليت الدهر أهلكني

And would that death had overtaken me at once,

and would that time had destroyed me,

ولم أره على ألأعوا

د مرتحلاً عن الوطن

and I had not seen him upon the bier,

departing from his homeland.

فهمي قد برى جسدي

وأضناني وأنحلني

For my anguish has worn away my body,

exhausted me and made me waste away.

إلى إسماعيل أشواقي

تزيد على مدى الزمن

My yearnings for Ismail

increase with the passage of time.

وإسماعيل لي شغل

عن اللذات يشغلني

And Ismail is my preoccupation,

distracting me from pleasures.

وإسماعيل لا أسلوه

حتى الموت يصدعني

And Ismail—I cannot forget him

until death shatters me.

سأبكيه وأندبه

بنوح زائد الشجن

I shall weep for him and lament him

with wailing ever deeper in sorrow,

كما قمرية ناحت

ببغداد على غصن

as a turtledove wailed

in Baghdad upon a branch.

وأبقى بعده أسفاً

مدى الأيام والزمن

And after him I shall remain sorrowful

for as long as days and time endure.