إلى الإلْفَيْن مِنْ أهْلٍ وَدار

إلى الإلْفَيْن مِنْ أهْلٍ وَدار

تأوّبني اشْتِياقِي وَادِّكاري

تأوّبني اشْتِياقِي وَادِّكاري

For my two beloveds—family and home—

To the two thousand people of family and home

my longing and remembrance revisited me.

My longing and recollection afflict me

وَحَنّ القَلب أعْشاراً إلَيها

وَحَنّ القَلب أعْشاراً إلَيها

حَنِينَ الوالِهات مِن العشارِ

حَنِينَ الوالِهات مِن العشارِ

And my heart, in fragments, yearned toward it,

And my heart yearns intensely for it

with the yearning of distraught, heavily pregnant she-camels.

The yearning of lovers from companionship

فبِتُّ كأني تَوْقاً وشَوْقاً

فبِتُّ كأني تَوْقاً وشَوْقاً

عَلَى مِثْلِ الأسِنَّة والشفارِ

عَلَى مِثْلِ الأسِنَّة والشفارِ

So I spent the night as though, in yearning and longing,

I spend the night as if I were yearning and pining

upon the likes of spearpoints and knife-edges.

For the likes of mouths and lips

وَما حَشْوُ الضُّلُوعِ سِوى أُوارٍ

وَما حَشْوُ الضُّلُوعِ سِوى أُوارٍ

وَما نَوْمُ الجُفون سِوى غِرارِ

وَما نَوْمُ الجُفون سِوى غِرارِ

And within my ribs is nothing but burning heat,

And the filling of my chest is naught but embers

and my eyelids' sleep is nothing but brief snatches.

And the sleep of my eyelids naught but delusion