1. خليليّ إني قد حننتُ لقربها

    فزادتْ بيَ البلوى كما تَرَياني

    My two friends, I have longed to be near her;

    So my affliction has grown, as you both can see.

  2. وَهيهات ما أَبغي من القربِ واللقا

    (وَقدْ حيل بين العَيْرِ والنَزَوانِ)

    And far beyond reach are the nearness and meeting I seek,

    (And the ass has been kept from mounting.)

  3. تمكَّنَ مني السقمُ في كلِّ مفصلٍ

    وَلم يبق بي إلاّ ذَما كدخان

    Illness has taken hold of me in every joint,

    And nothing remains in me but a wisp of life, like smoke,

  4. يرددُ في مثلِ الخلال وينثني

    ليخرجَ لولا بارقاتُ أَماني

    Wafting through a frame like a toothpick, and turning

    To leave, were it not for the gleams of my hopes.

  5. كأني وما جاوزتُ عشرين حجةً

    من السقمِ همٌ قد تجدد فاني

    As though I, not yet past twenty years,

    Were, through sickness, a decrepit man, renewed yet perishing.

  6. فَلَوْ ترينّي ساهماً خلتِ هيكلاً

    أَناخ عَلَى أَركانِه الملوان

    So if you saw me wan, you would think me a skeletal frame

    Upon whose pillars night and day have knelt.

  7. تُقلبني كفُّ الضنى فتمضني

    وتعبث للأَوجاعِ فيَّ يدان

    The hand of wasting sickness tosses me and torments me,

    And pain's two hands toy with me.

  8. أَجودُ بما ضنَّ الأَنامُ ببذله

    وأَبخلُ فيها يزهد الثقلان

    I give freely what humankind begrudges giving,

    And am miserly with what humans and jinn disdain:

  9. بروحي وما روحي عليَّ عزيزة

    وموتي عساني أَستريح عساني

    With my soul—though my soul is not dear to me—

    And my death—perhaps I shall find rest, perhaps.

  10. يئستُ فما لي في حياتيَ مطمعٌ

    فيا موت عجِّلْ ويك آن أَواني

    I have despaired; I have nothing left to hope for in life.

    So, O Death, hasten—woe to you! My time has come.

  11. ويا حبّها زدني فهل أَرجو بعد ذا

    حياة وما بالعمر غير ثواني

    And, O love for her, give me more—can I hope, after this,

    For life, when only seconds remain in my span?

  12. كأَني وقَدْ حمَّ القضاءُ وسير بي

    إلى جدثي وانهدَّ ركنُ كياني

    It is as though fate were sealed and I were borne

    To my grave, and the pillar of my being had collapsed,

  13. وسار بنعشي كلُّ أَروع ماجدٍ

    يرجِّع أسيانا ويندب عاني

    And every splendid, noble man walked with my bier,

    Chanting in sorrow and lamenting in anguish;

  14. وقامَ عَلَى قبري ابن عميَ حاسرا

    جزيناً يريق الدمعَ أحمر قاني

    And my cousin stood bareheaded over my grave,

    Grieving, shedding tears of deepest crimson;

  15. وقيل لأُمي وهي عجفاءُ نضوةٌ

    رمتْ بابنك النائي يدُ الحدثان

    And my mother, gaunt and wasted, was told:

    'The hand of time's misfortunes has struck down your faraway son.'

  16. فهمَّتْ لتلقي للحضيض بنفسها

    وَكادتْ فلم تقدرْ من الرجفان

    So she made to fling herself into the depths,

    And nearly did, but trembling left her powerless.

  17. فلم تبق إلاَّ بعض يوم وَليلةٍ

    تقاسي من الثكلِ الأَسى وَتعاني

    She lived on only part of a day and a night,

    Enduring the sorrow of bereavement and suffering.

  18. و (عدنان) مَنْ قد أصبح اليتمُ تربَه

    وَخامر روحي حبه وَجناني

    And Adnan, whose age-mate orphanhood had become,

    And love for whom had permeated my soul and heart,

  19. بكى لبكاءِ الأُم إذْ يجهل البكا

    وَرقرق دمعاً قد وَهى كجمان

    Wept at his mother's weeping, though he did not understand weeping,

    And shed tears that trickled like pearls.

  20. فلم يبق لمّا عمَّ نَعْييَ كاتبٌ

    وَلا شاعرٌ إلاّ بكى وَرثاني

    When news of my death spread, no writer remained,

    Nor poet, who did not weep and elegize me.

  21. إلى الله أشكو سقم حالي وَشقوتي

    وَظلم التي أهوى وَجور زماني

    To God I complain of my ailing state and misery,

    And of the injustice of her I love, and the tyranny of my time.

  22. كأني إذا ذُكّرتها بيَ جِنَّةٌ

    أَكان هواها داعياً لهواني

    As though, whenever I am reminded of her, madness grips me.

    Was love for her the cause of my humiliation?

  23. كأَنَّ علَى قلبي قطاةً ذبيحةً

    معلَّقةً من شدةِ الخفقان

    As though upon my heart were a slaughtered sandgrouse,

    Suspended there, so fierce is the fluttering.

  24. تكهرب أعضائي إذا ما ذكرتها

    فأرزم حتى ما يشير بناني

    My limbs become electrified whenever I remember her,

    So I freeze, till my fingertips can no longer gesture.

  25. فلو أنَّ ما أشكو إليها وَقد قستْ

    شكوتُ إلى صلْدِ الصفا لبكاني

    If what I lament to her—though she has grown hard—

    I lamented to solid rock, it would weep for me.

  26. وَلو أنَّ لي قلبين عشتُ بواحدٍ

    وَكافحتُ ريبَ الحادثات بثاني

    And if I had two hearts, I would live with one,

    And with the other battle the reversals of fortune.