مَنْ عَاذِرِي مِنْ بَابِلِيٍّ طَرْفُهُ

مَنْ عَاذِرِي مِنْ بَابِلِيٍّ طَرْفُهُ

وَلَعَمْره ما حَلَّ يَوماً بَابِلا

وَلَعَمْره ما حَلَّ يَوماً بَابِلا

Who will excuse me for one whose gaze is Babylonian?

Who excuses my Babylonish lover though he has ruined me

And by his life, he never once alighted in Babylon.

By my life, never has he spent a day in Babylon!

أَعْتَدُّهُ خَوْطاً لِعَيْشِي نَاعِما

أَعْتَدُّهُ خَوْطاً لِعَيْشِي نَاعِما

فَيَعُودُ خَطِّيّاً لِقَتْلِيَ ذَابِلا

فَيَعُودُ خَطِّيّاً لِقَتْلِيَ ذَابِلا

I deem him a tender bough for my life,

I thought him a thread for a soft life

Then he becomes a slender Khatti spear to kill me.

But he returns, a piercing blade that slaughters me.