متى الدَّينُ يا أُمَّ العَلاءِ فقد أَنَى

متى الدَّينُ يا أُمَّ العَلاءِ فقد أَنَى

أَنَاهُ مُؤَدَّىً للغَرِيمِ المُطالبِ

أَنَاهُ مُؤَدَّىً للغَرِيمِ المُطالبِ

When will the debt be paid, O Umm al-ʿAlāʾ? For now has come

When will the debt be paid, O mother of nobility, for it has been lost

its appointed time for payment to the creditor who demands it.

I have been longing to pay the creditor his dues

لقد طالما استَنسَأتِ إِمّا لِتَظلمِى

لقد طالما استَنسَأتِ إِمّا لِتَظلمِى

وإِمّا لتُرضِى بالقَليلِ المُقاربِ

وإِمّا لتُرضِى بالقَليلِ المُقاربِ

Indeed, you have so often sought delay, either to wrong me

You have often procrastinated, either to wrong me

or to appease me with a little, barely adequate.

Or to be content with little, approaching what is due

لقد زَعَم الواشونَ أَنِّى صَرَمتُهَا

لقد زَعَم الواشونَ أَنِّى صَرَمتُهَا

وكلُّ الذى عدُّوا مَقالةُ كاذبِ

وكلُّ الذى عدُّوا مَقالةُ كاذبِ

Indeed, the slanderers claimed that I broke with her,

The slanderers have claimed that I refused to pay it

and all they recounted is a liar's tale.

Yet all they say is lies from a liar

وكيفَ عَزاءُ النَّفسِ عنها وحبُّهَا

وكيفَ عَزاءُ النَّفسِ عنها وحبُّهَا

يزيدُ إِذَا ما رثَّ وَصلُ الكَواعِبِ

يزيدُ إِذَا ما رثَّ وَصلُ الكَواعِبِ

And how can the soul find solace apart from her, when love for her

How can my soul find solace from it and love her

grows whenever the bond with budding-breasted maidens wears thin?

When separation prolongs and the anklets cease their rhythm