1. كان هزاراً طَرِباً

    بالحسن مفتنَّا

    He was a joyous nightingale,

    Enraptured by beauty.

  2. فابتسمَ الحبُّ لَهُ

    فأحسن الظَّنَّا

    So Love smiled upon him,

    And he thought well of it.

  3. ثمَّ رماه بالتي

    تبدِّلُ اللحنا

    Then it struck him with that which

    Changes the melody.

  4. باتَ يهيمُ نائحاً

    وطالما غنَّى

    He spent the night wandering, wailing,

    Though so often he had sung.

  5. حُكْم به الحب قضى

    ما أْظلَمَ القاضي

    A judgment that Love decreed—

    How unjust the judge!

  6. حَسْبُك أن ترضى به

    فإنني راضِ

    It is enough for you to be content with it,

    For I am content.

  7. دعكَ من الماضي فلو

    عدت إلى الماضي

    Leave the past alone, for if

    You returned to the past,

  8. وجدتَ وصلَ ساعةٍ

    ودهرَ إعراضِ

    You would find an hour of union,

    And an age of rejection.

  9. صحّ الذي جرّبتُه

    عند أبي سلمى

    What I experienced proved true

    For Abu Salma:

  10. الحبُّ يقتاد الفتى

    وقلبُه أعمى

    Love leads the young man,

    While his heart is blind.

  11. يسمو به حتى إذا

    بوَّأهُ النجما

    It lifts him until, when

    It has set him upon a star,

  12. رمى به من حالقٍ

    يَحْطِمُهُ حَطْما

    It casts him from a towering height,

    Shattering him utterly.

  13. عاش كلانا بالمنى

    نُرسلُها شعرا

    Both of us lived on hopes,

    Sending them forth as verse.

  14. تلكَ رُفاةٌ بَلِيَتْ

    تبعثُها الذكرى

    Those are decayed remains

    That memory brings back to life.

  15. نصوغُها ابتسامةً

    أو دمعةً تُذْرى

    We fashion them into a smile,

    Or a tear that is shed.

  16. نَشْقى به حتى تحينَ

    الراحةُ الكبرى

    We suffer because of it until there comes

    The ultimate repose.