أيا صاحبي بالخيف حُيِّيت مغضَباً

أيا صاحبي بالخيف حُيِّيت مغضَباً

نفَرتَ ولكنّي نظرتُ لحيْني

نفَرتَ ولكنّي نظرتُ لحيْني

O my companion at al-Khayf, greetings to you, angry as you are!

O my companion, I greeted you angrily

You shied away, but I looked—to my doom.

You turned away, but I looked for a moment

رميت وسهم ربما مرَّ خاطئا

رميت وسهم ربما مرَّ خاطئا

بسهمين من قاريةٍ نضليْنِ

بسهمين من قاريةٍ نضليْنِ

I was shot—though an arrow may sometimes fly wide—

I shot an arrow that may have gone astray

by two unerring arrows from a quiver.

With two arrows from a bending bow

فإما تَرَى جُرحي وتجهلُ طِبَّه

فإما تَرَى جُرحي وتجهلُ طِبَّه

فخذ علمَه من ظبية العلَميْنِ

فخذ علمَه من ظبية العلَميْنِ

So if you see my wound but do not know its cure,

So either you see my wound and do not know its cure

then learn it from the gazelle of al-ʿAlamayn.

Take its knowledge from the doe of the two flags

فسلْ وتعجَّب كيف تعيا ببُردِها

فسلْ وتعجَّب كيف تعيا ببُردِها

وتحملُ مع ثِقل الأمانةِ دَيْني

وتحملُ مع ثِقل الأمانةِ دَيْني

So ask, and marvel how her cloak wearies her,

Ask and wonder how she lives in their coldness

yet she bears my debt along with the burden of the trust.

And bears the burden of the trust and my debt

أمالكةً حلمي وتاركةً دمي

أمالكةً حلمي وتاركةً دمي

بغَبنِيَ من قلبي يفيضُ وعيْني

بغَبنِيَ من قلبي يفيضُ وعيْني

O you who possess my reason and leave my blood

Angelic is my dream and leaving my blood

flowing, to my loss, from my heart and my eye!

With my loss from my heart overflowing and my eye

هبِي ذنبَ قلبي أنه يومَ بينكم

هبِي ذنبَ قلبي أنه يومَ بينكم

شكاك لوجدٍ أو لروعة بيْنِ

شكاك لوجدٍ أو لروعة بيْنِ

Suppose my heart's fault was that, on the day you left,

Bring the sin of my heart that one day between you

it complained of you from longing or fear of parting;

Doubtful of a found or frightened love

فما بال عيني عوقبت وهِيَ التي

فما بال عيني عوقبت وهِيَ التي

سعتْ بينكم حتى عشِقتُ وبيني

سعتْ بينكم حتى عشِقتُ وبيني

then why was my eye punished, though it was the one

So why were my eyes punished when they

that served as go-between for you and me until I fell in love?

Roamed between you until I loved and me