أحِنُّ إلى تُرْبٍ ثوى سكناً به

أحِنُّ إلى تُرْبٍ ثوى سكناً به

فَألْثَمُه شَوْقاً لِمَنْ وُسّد الترْبا

فَألْثَمُه شَوْقاً لِمَنْ وُسّد الترْبا

I yearn for the soil where my beloved lies at rest,

I yearn for the soil where my abode once lay

So I kiss it, longing for the one whose pillow is the earth.

So I can kiss it longingly, for the one who filled the earth

وأُطْبِقُ أجفاني أُحاوِلُ غَفْوَةً

وأُطْبِقُ أجفاني أُحاوِلُ غَفْوَةً

فيَأبى هُناك الهُدب أن يصِلَ الهُدْبا

فيَأبى هُناك الهُدب أن يصِلَ الهُدْبا

And I close my eyelids, trying to doze,

And I close my eyelids attempting slumber

Yet there one fringe of lashes refuses to meet the other.

But the sadness there refuses to let sorrow sleep

لَعَمْري لَقَد نالَ الرّدى مِنِّيَ الذي

لَعَمْري لَقَد نالَ الرّدى مِنِّيَ الذي

أرادَ وخَلَّى الصَّبرَ مُقْتسماً نَهبا

أرادَ وخَلَّى الصَّبرَ مُقْتسماً نَهبا

By my life, death has indeed taken from me what

Oh how time has wronged me, taking all it willed

it desired, and left my patience divided as plunder.

Leaving patience plundered, spoils there for the keeping

فَغَيّضَ مِن ماء الحياة معِينه

فَغَيّضَ مِن ماء الحياة معِينه

وَضَيَّق من ذرْعي بِما صَنعَ الرّحبا

وَضَيَّق من ذرْعي بِما صَنعَ الرّحبا

Thus it drained the flowing spring of life's water,

It lessened the spring of life I had within me

And by its deed narrowed the breadth of my endurance.

And narrowed my vastness by all it broadly reaped

تَبَاعَد مَنْ أهْوى وشطّ مَزَارُهُ

تَبَاعَد مَنْ أهْوى وشطّ مَزَارُهُ

وبَدَّل نَأياً شاسِعاً ذلِك القُرْبا

وبَدَّل نَأياً شاسِعاً ذلِك القُرْبا

The one I love has gone far away, and far off is the place to visit him,

Those I loved grew distant, their tombstones remote

And has replaced that closeness with a vast distance.

Replacing dear closeness with a farness absolute

فَلو أنّني طَوَّعْتُ قَلبِيَ ساعةً

فَلو أنّني طَوَّعْتُ قَلبِيَ ساعةً

قَضى نحْبَهُ لَهفا عَلى مَن قَضى نَحبا

قَضى نحْبَهُ لَهفا عَلى مَن قَضى نَحبا

So if I could make my heart obey for a moment,

If I could will my heart be still a moment

It would die in anguished longing for the one who died.

It would breathe its sadness for those who breathe no longer