1. لَوعَةٌ في الضُلوعِ مِثلَ جَهَنَّمِ

    تَرَكَت هَذِهِ الضُلوعَ رَمادا

    An anguish in the ribs, like Hell,

    has turned these ribs to ashes.

  2. بِتُّ مَرمى لِلدَهرِ بي يَتَعَلَّم

    كَيفَ يُصمي القُلوب وَالئكبادا

    I have become Time's target; through me it learns

    how to mortally wound hearts and livers.

  3. كَيفَ يَنجو فُؤادُهُ أَو يَسلَم

    مَن تَمادى بِهِ الأَسى فَتَمادى

    How can his heart escape or remain unharmed—

    one whom sorrow drove onward, and who went ever further?

  4. أَنا لَولا الشُعورُ لَم أَتَأَلَّم

    لَيتَ الفُؤادَ كانَ جَمادا

    Were it not for feeling, I would not suffer;

    would that the heart were inanimate matter.

  5. كَيفَ لا أَبكي وَفي العَينِ دُموع

    كَيفَ لا ئشكو وَفي القَلبِ صُدوع

    How can I not weep, with tears in my eye?

    How can I not complain, with fissures in my heart?

  6. قَلَّ في الناسِ مَن صَبَر

    مُخـــــــــــــــــــــــــــتارا

    Few among people endure

    by choice.

  7. لَحظَةٌ ثُمَّ صارَ ضِحكي وَجيبا

    وَنَشيجا وَالنَومُ صارَ سُهادا

    A moment—then my laughter turned to throbbing,

    and sobbing, and sleep turned to sleeplessness.

  8. رَبِّ لَمّا خَلَقتَ هَذي الخُطوبا

    لِمَ لَم تَخلُقِ الحَشا فولادا

    Lord, when You created these calamities,

    why did You not make the inward parts of steel?

  9. كُلَّما قُلتُ قَد وَجَدتُ حَبيبا

    طَلَعَ المَوتُ بَينَنا يَتَهادى

    Whenever I said, 'I have found a loved one,'

    death rose between us, sauntering.

  10. صِرتُ في هَذِهِ الحَياةِ غَريبا

    لَيتَ سُهدي الطَويلَ كانَ رُقادا

    I have become a stranger in this life;

    would that my long wakefulness were sleep.

  11. فَتَجَلَّد أَيُّها القَلبُ الجَزوع

    أَو تَدَفَّق كُلَّما شاءَ الوَلوع

    So be steadfast, O distraught heart,

    or pour forth whenever yearning wills,

  12. عَندَماً أَو دَماً هُدِر

    أَو نـــــــــــــــــــــــــــارا

    as crimson dye, or blood shed unavenged,

    or fire.

  13. مَن كانَ بَينَ الكَرى وَبَينِيَ صُلُحُ

    فَأَرادَ القَضاءَ أَن نَتعادى

    There was peace between slumber and me;

    then fate willed that we become enemies.

  14. لَم أَكَد أَخلَعُ السَواد وَأَصحو

    مِن ذُهولي حَتّى لَبِستُ السَوادا

    Scarcely had I taken off my mourning black and awakened

    from my stupor when I put on black again.

  15. في فُؤادي لَو يَعلَمُ الناسُ جُرحٌ

    لا يُلاشى حَتّى يُلاشى الفُؤادا

    There is a wound in my heart, if people only knew,

    that will not vanish until it annihilates the heart.

  16. يا خَليلي هَيهاتَ يَنفَعُ نُصحُ

    بَعدَما ضَيَّعَ الحَزينُ الرَشادا

    O my friend, no counsel can avail

    after the sorrowing man has lost sound judgment.

  17. أَنتَ لا تَستَطيعُ إِحياءَ الصَريع

    وَأَنا حَملَ الأَسى لا أَستَطيع

    You cannot restore the slain to life,

    and I cannot bear the burden of sorrow.

  18. ذا الَّذي صَيَّرَ الكَدَر

    إِكـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــدارا

    This is what turned sorrow

    into bitter anguish.

  19. يا ضَريحاً عَلى ضِفافِ الوادي

    جادَ مِن أَجلِكَ الغَمامُ البِلادا

    O tomb upon the valley's banks,

    may the clouds water the land for your sake.

  20. فيكَ أَودَعتُ مُنذُ سِتٍّ فُؤادي

    وَبِرَغمي أَطَلتُ عَنكَ البِعادا

    In you I laid my heart six [years] ago,

    and, against my will, have stayed long away from you.

  21. غَيرَ أَنّي وَإِن عَدَتني العَوادي

    ما عَدَتني بِالروحِ أَن أَرتادا

    But though misfortunes have kept me away,

    they have not kept me from visiting in spirit.

  22. أَنبَتَت حَولَكَ الزُهورُ الغَوادي

    وَاللَيالي أَنبَتنَ حَولي القَتادا

    The morning rains grew flowers around you,

    and the nights grew thorn trees around me.

  23. وَذُبولُ الغُصنِ في فَصلِ الرَبيع

    لَو رَآهُ شَجَرُ الرَوضِ المَريع

    And a branch's withering in the spring—

    if the trees of the lush garden saw it,

  24. جَمَدَ الماءُ في الشَجَر

    مُحـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــتارا

    the sap within the trees would freeze

    in bewilderment.

  25. كَيفَ لا يَتَّقي الكَرى أَجفاني

    وَجُفوني قَدِ اِستَحَلنَ صِعادا

    How should slumber not shun my eyelids,

    when my eyelids have turned into spears?

  26. وَدُموعي بِلَونِها الأُرجُواني

    مَنهَلٌَ لَيسَ يُعجِبُ الوُرّادا

    And my tears, in their purple hue,

    are a watering-place that pleases none who come to drink.

  27. وَالَّذي في الضُلوعِ مِن نيرانِ

    صارَ ثَوبا وَمَقعَدا وَوِسادا

    And the fire within my ribs

    has become a garment, a seat, and a pillow.

  28. كَيفَ يَقوى عَلى الشَدائِدِ عانِ

    أَكَلَ السُقمُ جِسمَهُ أَو كادا

    How can a captive withstand hardships,

    when sickness has consumed his body, or nearly so?

  29. فَإِذا ما غَشِيَ الطَرفَ النَجيع

    فَتَذَكَّر أَنَّهُ القَلبُ الصَديع

    So if ever blood covers the eye,

    remember that it is the shattered heart:

  30. كَظَّهُ الحُزنُ فَاِنفَجَر

    اِنفِجـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــارا

    sorrow overwhelmed it, and it burst—

    burst open.

  31. طائِرٌ كانَ في الرُبى يَتَغَنّى

    أَصبَحَ اليَومَ يَحمِلُ الأَصفادا

    A bird that once sang among the hills

    today bears chains.

  32. غُصنٌ كان وَالصِبا يَتَثَنّى

    هَصَرَتهُ يَدُ الرَدى فَاِنآدا

    A bough that once swayed in youth—

    Death's hand bent it down, and it drooped.

  33. نالَ مِنّي الزَمانُ ما يَتَمَنّى

    وَأَبى أَن أَنالَ مِنهُ مُرادا

    Time took from me what it desired,

    and refused to let me gain from it what I desired.

  34. وَتَجَنّى ما شاءَ أَن يَتَجَنّى

    وَاِستَبَدَّت صُروفُهُ اِستِبدادا

    It wronged me however it wished to wrong me,

    and its vicissitudes wielded utter tyranny.

  35. حَطَّمَ السَيف وَما أَبقى الدُروع

    وَتَداعى دونَهُ السورُ المَنيع

    It shattered the sword and left no shields;

    and before it the impregnable wall collapsed.

  36. وَأَراني مِنَ العِبَر

    أَطــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــوارا

    And it showed me lessons

    in many forms.

  37. ما لِهَذي النُجومِ تَأبى الشُروقا

    أَتَخافُ الكَواكِبُ الأَرصادا

    Why do these stars refuse to rise?

    Do the stars fear the watchers?

  38. فَرطَ البَينُ عِقدَها المَنسوقا

    أَم لِما بي أَرى البَياضَ سَوادا

    Has separation scattered their strung necklace,

    or, because of what ails me, do I see white as black?

  39. أَم فَقِدنَ كَما فَقَدتُ شَقيقا

    فَلَبِسنَ الدُجى عَلَيهِ حِدادا

    Or have they lost a brother, as I have,

    and so donned darkness in mourning for him?

  40. ما لِعَيني لا تُبصِرُ العَيّوقا

    وَلَقَد كانَ ساطِعاً وَقّادا

    What ails my eye, that it cannot see al-‘Ayyuq?

    And indeed it had been radiant and blazing,

  41. سافِراً يَختالُ في هَذا الرَقيع

    هَل أَتاهُ نَبَءُ الخَطبِ الفَظيع

    unveiled, strutting across this sky.

    Has news of the terrible calamity reached it?

  42. أَم رَأى مَصرَعَ القَمَر

    فَتَـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــوارى

    Or did it see the moon's downfall,

    and so hide itself?

  43. سَدَّدَ الدَهرُ قَوسَه وَرَماني

    لَم تَحُد مُهجَتي وَلا السَهمُ حادا

    Time aimed its bow and shot at me;

    my heart did not swerve, nor did the arrow.

  44. هَكَذا أَسكَتَت صُروفُ الزَمانِ

    بُلبُلاً كانَ نَوحُهُ إِنشادا

    Thus the vicissitudes of time silenced

    a nightingale whose lament was song.

  45. فَهوَ اليَومَ في يَدِ السَجّانِ

    يَشتَهي كُلَّ ساعَةٍ أَن يُصادا

    Today it is in the jailer's hand,

    longing every hour to be hunted down.

  46. فَاِحسِبوني أُدرِجتُ في الأَكفانِ

    إِن أَنَفتُم أَن تَحسِبوا القَولَ بادا

    So reckon me wrapped in burial shrouds,

    if you disdain to think that speech has perished.

  47. لَيسَ في هَذي وَلا تِلكَ الرُبوع

    ما يُسَلّي النَفسَ عَن ذاكَ الضَجيع

    Neither in these nor in those lands

    is there anything to console the soul for that sleeper.

  48. قَبرَهُ جادَكَ المَطَر

    مِـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــدرارا

    His grave—may the rain water you

    in torrents.