نضارةُ عيشٍ أزهرت واضمحلَّت

نضارةُ عيشٍ أزهرت واضمحلَّت

وأيامُ أنسٍ أقبلت ثمَّ ولَّت

وأيامُ أنسٍ أقبلت ثمَّ ولَّت

The freshness of life blossomed and faded away.

The blossoming of a life of joy has withered away,

And days of companionship came, then departed.

And days of companionship have come and gone.

ومنفقةٍ باللهوِ أيامَ عمرِها

ومنفقةٍ باللهوِ أيامَ عمرِها

سروراً رأت ردني بدمعي بلَّت

سروراً رأت ردني بدمعي بلَّت

And a woman spending her life's days in amusement

Days spent in vain amusement and play,

for pleasure saw my sleeves soaked with my tears.

Seeing happiness, my tears started to flow.

فظنَّت عزائي بالملام فأكثرتْ

فظنَّت عزائي بالملام فأكثرتْ

فلمَّا رأت أن لا عزاءَ أقلَّت

فلمَّا رأت أن لا عزاءَ أقلَّت

So she thought reproach would console me, and reproached me often;

Thinking my crying was out of blame, she increased,

but when she saw there was no consolation, she reproached me less.

When she saw there was no consolation, she diminished.

فقد عزيت باللوم والقلب بالجوى

فقد عزيت باللوم والقلب بالجوى

فمل ملَّ قلبي والعواذلُ ملَّت

فمل ملَّ قلبي والعواذلُ ملَّت

For I was offered reproach as comfort, while my heart burned with grief.

I was consoled by blame, while my heart was consumed by passion,

So weary, weary grew my heart, and the reproaching women grew weary.

My heart became weary, and the beauties grew tired.

سقى اللهُ قبراً هلت أمس ترابه

سقى اللهُ قبراً هلت أمس ترابه

على روح جسمي ليتَ كفِّي شلَّت

على روح جسمي ليتَ كفِّي شلَّت

May God water a grave whose earth I heaped yesterday

May Allah water the grave whose soil was poured

over my body's soul—would that my hand had been paralyzed!

Over the soul of my body, if only my palm would be paralyzed.

غدا سائراً والطرفُ يتبعُ نعشَه

غدا سائراً والطرفُ يتبعُ نعشَه

غداة به عيس المنايا استقلَّت

غداة به عيس المنايا استقلَّت

He set forth, while my gaze followed his bier,

Tomorrow, traveling on, and my eyes follow his bier,

the morning death's pale camels bore him away.

Tomorrow, by it, the pangs of death were made easy.

ولمَّا تصدَّى حائلُ الترب دونه

ولمَّا تصدَّى حائلُ الترب دونه

وعينيَ منه لا فؤادي تخلَّت

وعينيَ منه لا فؤادي تخلَّت

And when the barrier of earth stood between us,

When the barrier of dust blocked him from me,

and my eye, not my heart, parted from him,

And my eyes from him, not my heart, were separated.

تلفَّتُّ والأحشاء عن مستقرِّها

تلفَّتُّ والأحشاء عن مستقرِّها

لشدَّة ما تنزو من الوجد زلَّت

لشدَّة ما تنزو من الوجد زلَّت

I kept looking back, my entrails from their resting place

I tossed about while my intestines were displaced

dislodged by how fiercely they leapt with grief.

From the spot where they belonged, because of the intensity of the anguish pouring out.

فما خاذلٌ جاءت بخشفين عنهما

فما خاذلٌ جاءت بخشفين عنهما

وعنها بفقر البيد ضلاّ وضلَّت

وعنها بفقر البيد ضلاّ وضلَّت

For no solitary doe that bore two fawns—from whom she

No sympathizer came to me with two cheeks

strayed, and they from her, in the desert wastes—

Or with the palm of a hand, went astray and got lost.

بأكثر منِّي يومَ غابَ تلفُّتاً

بأكثر منِّي يومَ غابَ تلفُّتاً

ولا أدمعاً فيها الجفونُ استهلَّت

ولا أدمعاً فيها الجفونُ استهلَّت

looked back more than I did on the day he vanished,

More than I, on the day he was absent, tossed about,

nor had her eyelids streamed with more tears.

And no tears on that day, did the eyelids pour down.