يَهْدِمُ دارَ الحياةِ بانيها

يَهْدِمُ دارَ الحياةِ بانيها

فأيّ حيّ مُخَلَّدٌ فيها

فأيّ حيّ مُخَلَّدٌ فيها

The builder of life's house tears it down.

He who built the house of life destroys it

What living being, then, is immortal within it?

So what living being is immortalized in it?

وإن تَرَدّتْ من قبلنا أُمَمٌ

وإن تَرَدّتْ من قبلنا أُمَمٌ

فهي نفوسٌ رُدّتْ عواريها

فهي نفوسٌ رُدّتْ عواريها

And if nations before us have fallen,

And if nations have declined before us

then they are souls whose loans were returned.

They are but bare souls that have returned

أما تَراها كأنّها أجَمٌ

أما تَراها كأنّها أجَمٌ

أسوَدُها بيننا دواهيها

أسوَدُها بيننا دواهيها

Do you not see it as a jungle,

Do you not see them as if they were rocks

whose lions among us are its calamities?

Blackened among us are their abrasions

إنْ سالَمَتْ وهي لا تسالمنا

إنْ سالَمَتْ وهي لا تسالمنا

أيّامُنا حارَبتْ لياليها

أيّامُنا حارَبتْ لياليها

If peace is made—though it makes no peace with us—

If they were safe when they did not make us safe

by our days, its nights wage war.

Our days warred against their nights

وَاوَحْشَتَا من فِراقِ مُؤنِسَةٍ

وَاوَحْشَتَا من فِراقِ مُؤنِسَةٍ

يميتني ذكْرُهَا ويحييها

يميتني ذكْرُهَا ويحييها

Oh, my desolation at parting from a comforting companion!

And how lonely because of the absence of a companion

Remembering her kills me and brings her to life.

Whose memory kills me and gives me life

أذكرها والدموعُ تسبقني

أذكرها والدموعُ تسبقني

كأنّني للأسى أجاريها

كأنّني للأسى أجاريها

I remember her, and tears outpace me,

I remember her and tears outstrip me

as though I were racing them in grief.

As if I race against sorrow

يا بحرُ أرخصتَ غير مكترثٍ

يا بحرُ أرخصتَ غير مكترثٍ

مَنْ كنتُ لا للبياع أغليها

مَنْ كنتُ لا للبياع أغليها

O sea, you heedlessly cheapened

O sea you set sail uncaring

her whom I held dear, not for sale.

She whom I was not selling to the seller

جوهرةٌ كان خاطري صَدَفاً

جوهرةٌ كان خاطري صَدَفاً

لها أقيها به وأحميها

لها أقيها به وأحميها

A jewel—my mind was a shell

A jewel - my soul was the oyster

for her; with it I guarded and protected her.

I sheltered it in me and protected it

أبَتّها في حشاك مُغْرَقَةً

أبَتّها في حشاك مُغْرَقَةً

وبتُّ في ساحليك أبكيها

وبتُّ في ساحليك أبكيها

You made her spend the night drowned in your belly,

I concealed it in your bosom drowned

and I spent the night on your two shores, weeping for her.

While I weep for it on your coast

ونفحةُ الطيبِ في ذوائبها

ونفحةُ الطيبِ في ذوائبها

وصبغةُ الكحل في مآقيها

وصبغةُ الكحل في مآقيها

And perfume's fragrance was in her tresses,

The scent of perfume in its tresses

and kohl's tint in the inner corners of her eyes.

And the kohl dye in its eyes

عانَقَهَا الموجُ ثمّ فارقَها

عانَقَهَا الموجُ ثمّ فارقَها

عن ضَمّةٍ فاضَ روحها فيها

عن ضَمّةٍ فاضَ روحها فيها

The waves embraced her, then parted from her,

The wave embraced it then parted from it

after an embrace in which her soul flowed out.

From an embrace in which its soul poured

ويلي من الماءِ والتراب ومن

ويلي من الماءِ والتراب ومن

أحكامها ضِدّيْن حُكّمَا فيها

أحكامها ضِدّيْن حُكّمَا فيها

Woe to me from water and earth, and from

Woe to me from the water and the dust and from

its decrees—two opposites made arbiters over her.

The two contrary decrees that judged it

أماتَها ذا وذاكَ غَيّرَها

أماتَها ذا وذاكَ غَيّرَها

كَيْفَ من العُنْصُرَيْن أفديها

كَيْفَ من العُنْصُرَيْن أفديها

This one killed her, and that one changed her.

This and that killed it altered it

How can I ransom her from the two elements?

How can I ransom it from the two elements?