تُرَى يا زَمَانَ الوَصلِ هَل أنتَ رَاجِعُ

تُرَى يا زَمَانَ الوَصلِ هَل أنتَ رَاجِعُ

وَهَل مَاضِيَ الأفعَالِ مِنكَ مُضارعُ

وَهَل مَاضِيَ الأفعَالِ مِنكَ مُضارعُ

I wonder, O time of union, will you return?

Will you, O time of union, return, I wonder,

And will your past deeds become present again?

And will your past deeds be recurrent?

وَلَولاَ دُمُوعٌ أشعَلَ الجَمرُ بَاطِنِي

وَلَولاَ دُمُوعٌ أشعَلَ الجَمرُ بَاطِنِي

وَلَولاَ جَمَارِي أغرَقَتنِي المَدَامِعُ

وَلَولاَ جَمَارِي أغرَقَتنِي المَدَامِعُ

And but for tears, the embers would have set my inner self ablaze.

Were it not for tears that ignited embers within me,

And but for my embers, the tears would have drowned me.

Were it not for my coals, tears would have drowned me,

وَمِثلِي كَثَكلَى فَارَقَت أنسَ حِبِّهَا

وَمِثلِي كَثَكلَى فَارَقَت أنسَ حِبِّهَا

وَمِثلِيَ مُوسَى فَارَقَتهُ المَرَاضِعُ

وَمِثلِيَ مُوسَى فَارَقَتهُ المَرَاضِعُ

And I am like a bereaved mother, parted from her beloved's company.

And one like me Khuthaylah left the intimacy of her beloved,

And I am like Moses, whom the wet nurses left.

And one like me Moses left his wet nurses,

وَمَا شَيبُ رَأسِي مِن سِنِينَ تطاولَت

وَمَا شَيبُ رَأسِي مِن سِنِينَ تطاولَت

عَلَيَّ وَلَكِن شَيَّبَتنِي الوَقَائِعُ

عَلَيَّ وَلَكِن شَيَّبَتنِي الوَقَائِعُ

And my gray hair is not from years that dragged on

It is not my head turned white with years gone by,

For me; rather, calamities have turned me gray.

But events that turned my hair white.