1. يا حادي الشوق يمم دار ماريانو

    واستفسر الدار عن أهل بها كانوا

    O camel-driver of longing, make for Mariano's house,

    And ask the house about those who once dwelt there.

  2. ألمم بها ففؤادي قد ألم به

    ركب الشجون فكلي الآن أظعان

    Visit it, for my heart has been visited

    By a caravan of sorrows; now I am all departing caravans.

  3. قد غادروني طريحا في جوانبها

    وخلفوني وفي الأحشاء نيران

    They have left me lying stricken in its precincts,

    And left me behind, with fires in my entrails.

  4. واحر قلباه فالأحباب قد رحلوا

    عني ومضناهم المسكين حيران

    Oh, the burning of my heart! My loved ones have departed

    From me, and their poor, lovesick one is bewildered.

  5. أما الغرام فقد ألقى العصا علنا

    واستخلفوه علينا فهو سلطان

    As for passionate love, it has openly laid down its staff,

    And they appointed it their successor over us; it is a sovereign.

  6. يا للفؤاد خذ التحقيق عن دنف

    أن ليس يسلو وهل للصب سلوان

    Alas for the heart! Take this certainty from one lovesick:

    That he cannot forget—and is there solace for the lovesick?

  7. مالي أرى الدار قفرا وهي عامرة

    واستوحشتنا وفيها اليوم سكان

    Why do I see the house as desolate, though it is inhabited?

    And it has grown estranged from us, though it has inhabitants today.

  8. مالي أمر عليها وهي موحشة

    كأنما ساكنوها اليوم غربان

    Why do I pass by it and find it so desolate,

    As though its inhabitants today were crows?

  9. لاقلت أمست خلاء فهي عامرة

    ولا أقول خراب وهو عمران

    I have not said it has become empty, for it is inhabited,

    Nor do I say 'ruin' where there is habitation.

  10. أخنى عليها الذي أخنى على لبد

    فاستقدمتنا إلى الأطلال أشجان

    What laid Lubad low has laid it low,

    So sorrows have summoned us to the ruins.

  11. ناديتها ولسان الحال ناطقة

    فيها علينا ووجه الدهر ألوان

    I called to it, while the tongue of circumstance spoke

    Within it against us, and time's face wore many colors.

  12. إنما دار لا قلت يسقيك الحيا أبدا

    فقد سقاك من الأجفان هتان

    You are but a house; I have not said, 'May rain water you forever,'

    For a downpour from eyelids has already watered you.

  13. بالله هل فيك يا دار الأحبة من

    حزن عليهم كما في القلب أحزان

    By God, is there in you, O house of the beloved, any

    Sorrow for them, like the sorrows in the heart?

  14. ناشدتك الله أن تستوقفي دنفا

    يبكي ليذكرهم في الحي ولهان

    I implore you by God to detain one sick with love,

    Weeping to recall them in the quarter, distraught with love.

  15. أطوف حولك أشواطا لأنك قد

    كنت الكناس وكانت فيك غزلان

    I circle around you, round after round, because you once

    Were the gazelles' covert, and gazelles lived within you.

  16. كانت لنا فيك باريزية كملت

    خلقا وخلقا فطابت فيك أزمان

    Within you we had a Parisian woman, perfect

    In form and character; thus the days within you were sweet.

  17. بئس الذين قد استبدلتهم عوضا

    منها فهذا وأيم الله خسران

    Wretched are those you have taken as replacements

    For her; this, by God, is a loss.

  18. قد ألف الحب بين المهجتين فلا

    تثريب عني ووجه الحسن فتان

    Love has united our two souls, so let there be no

    Blame upon me; the face of beauty is beguiling.

  19. قل لا يرى ذو الهوى في الحسن تفرقة

    ولا تفرقنا في العشق أديان

    Say: the lover sees no distinctions in beauty,

    Nor do religions divide us in passionate love.

  20. الله يعلم أني قد شغفت بها

    دهرا وفي القلب منها اليوم بركان

    God knows that I have been smitten with her

    For an age; today, because of her, my heart holds a volcano.

  21. قد ارتبطنا بسلك الكهرباء معا

    وسار بالشوق في القلبين ربان

    We have been joined together by an electric wire,

    And a captain sailed with longing through both hearts.

  22. إن يبعدوها فاحساسي يصورها

    من عالج الشوق لا يعروه نسيان

    If they take her far away, my feeling conjures her image;

    Whoever wrestles with longing is not overtaken by forgetfulness.

  23. ليس الخيال حقيقيا فيقنعني

    لا خير في الملتقى والطرف نعسان

    The imagined vision is not real enough to satisfy me;

    There is no good in a meeting when the eye is drowsy.

  24. إني أراها معي دوما بذاكرتي

    فلا يطارد شبح الطيف يقظان

    Indeed, I always see her with me in my memory,

    So no one awake pursues the phantom of a dream.

  25. حيث أراها وإن شط المزار بها

    فلا افتراق ولا بالبعد هجران

    There I see her, though the place to visit her is far away,

    So there is no separation, nor estrangement through distance.

  26. ما زال عهدي وثيقا في صبابتها

    ولا اعتراه مدى الأيام نقصان

    My pledge remains firm in my ardent love for her,

    Nor has any lessening overtaken it through the days.

  27. ما انفك حبلي بها في الحب متصلا

    إني بنفسي على ما قلت برهان

    My cord has remained joined to her in love,

    Indeed, I myself am proof of what I have said.

  28. لو قيل لي وأنا المكلوم في كرم

    من كنت تهوى أقل في الحين جرمان

    If I were asked, wounded as I am in Kram,

    'Whom did you love?' I would at once say, 'Germaine.'