إلا لله دهر كنت فيه

إلا لله دهر كنت فيه

أعز علي من روحي وأهلي

أعز علي من روحي وأهلي

Ah, by God, there was a time when you were

For a time I lived without God,

To God belongs that bygone time when you were

Dearer to me than my soul and my family.

My soul and family were most dear,

Dearer to me than my very soul and kin,

فما برحت يد الهجران حتى

فما برحت يد الهجران حتى

طواك بنانها طي السجل

طواك بنانها طي السجل

And the hand of estrangement did not cease until

Until the hand of separation struck -

Yet the relentless hand of parting did not cease until

Its fingertips rolled you up like a scroll.

Its fingers etched sorrow on my heart.

Its fingertips folded you away like the rolling up of a scroll.

شقاني الصبر هجركم كما قد

شقاني الصبر هجركم كما قد

سقاني الحب وصلكم بسجل

سقاني الحب وصلكم بسجل

Your estrangement afflicted me with bitter aloes, just as

Patience has rent me leaving you,

Your abandonment forced me to drink the bitterness of patience,

Union with you had given me love to drink from a full bucket.

As love once joined us joyfully.

Just as love once poured me your union in brimming buckets.

وجدت الوصل أصل الوجد حقاً

وجدت الوصل أصل الوجد حقاً

وطول الهجر أصلاً للتسلي

وطول الهجر أصلاً للتسلي

I found union truly the root of passion,

In truth, to join is joy's source,

Truly, I have found union to be the very root of passion,

And long estrangement the root of consolation.

While separation ever brings agony.

And prolonged separation to be the source of forgetting.