1. أَسمَعيني لحنَ الرَدى أَسمِعيني

    فَحَياتي عَلى شفارِ المنونِ

    Let me hear death's melody, let me hear it.

    For my life is on the knife-edges of death.

  2. وَاِذرُفي دَمعَةً عَليَّ فَبعد ال

    موتِ لا أَستَحلُّ أَن تَبكيني

    And shed a tear over me, for after

    death I do not deem it right that you weep for me.

  3. يا سُلَيمى وَقد أَثارَ نُحولي

    كامِناتِ الرَدى عَلى العِشرينِ

    O Sulayma, now that my wasting has awakened

    death's lurking forces at twenty,

  4. ما تَقولين عِندَما تَنظُرين

    القَومَ جاءَوا إِلَيَّ كَي يَحمِلوني

    what will you say when you see

    the people who have come to me to carry me away,

  5. وَأَنا جثَّةٌ بِدون حراك

    وَخيال الحِمام فَوقَ جَبيني

    while I am a corpse without movement,

    and death's specter is above my brow?

  6. يا سُلَيمى أَنا أَموتُ ضحوكاً

    لَيسَ هذا الوجودُ عَبرَ مجونِ

    O Sulayma, I shall die laughing;

    this existence is nothing beyond frivolity.

  7. إِنَّ مَن عاشَ فيهِ عمراً قَصيراً

    كَالَّذي عاشَ فيهِ بَعضُ قُرونِ

    Indeed, one who has lived in it a short lifetime

    is like one who has lived in it for a few centuries.

  8. يا سُلَيمى وَكم أُنادي سُلَيمى

    فَاِسمُها بِلسمٌ لِقَلبي الحَزينِ

    O Sulayma—and how often I call out, 'Sulayma!'

    For her name is a balm to my sorrowful heart.

  9. لَكِ عِندي وَصيَّةٌ فَاِحفَظيها

    هيَ بَعد المَماتِ أَن تَنسيني

    I have a last request for you, so remember it:

    it is that, after death, you forget me.

  10. وَإِذا هزَّكِ التذكّرُ بِالرُغ

    مِ وَشاءَ الودادُ أَن تذكريني

    And if remembrance shakes you against

    your will, and affection wills that you remember me,

  11. فَخُذي في الظلامِ قيثارَ وَحيي

    وَاِقصِدي القَبرَ في ظِلالِ السُكونِ

    then take, in the darkness, the lyre of my inspiration,

    and make for the grave in the shadows of stillness.

  12. وَاِنقُري نَقرَةً عَلَيهِ يُسَمِّع

    كِ أَنيناً كَزفرتي وَأَنيني

    And pluck a note upon it; it will make

    you hear a moan like my sigh and my moaning.

  13. ذاكَ قيثار صَبوَتي وَشَبابي

    وَآحنيني إِلَيهِ إي وآحَنيني

    That is the lyre of my youthful passion and my youth.

    Ah, my longing for it—yes, ah, my longing!

  14. يا سُلَيمى أُغنيَّةُ المَوتِ هذي

    وَمراراً أَنشَدَتها في جُنوني

    O Sulayma, this is the song of death,

    and many times I have sung it in my madness.

  15. فَاِسمَعيني أُعيدُها عَن قَريبٍ

    فَقَريباً يُحينُ يَومُ الدينِ

    So listen to me repeat it before long,

    for soon the Day of Judgment will come.