يقول صحابي قد أطلت وقوفنا

يقول صحابي قد أطلت وقوفنا

على الدار مسلوب الأسى والتماسك

على الدار مسلوب الأسى والتماسك

My companions say, “You have kept us standing too long

A companion said, we have stood long

at the dwelling, bereft of solace and composure.

At the abode, bereft of intimacy and composure

أفي كل دار قد عفت أنت واقف

أفي كل دار قد عفت أنت واقف

تروي ثراها بالدموع السوافك

تروي ثراها بالدموع السوافك

Do you stand at every dwelling that has faded away,

Do you stop at every house

watering its soil with streaming tears?

Watering its soil with pouring tears?

كأنك في رسم الديار متمم

كأنك في رسم الديار متمم

وفيما عفا من ربعها قبر مالك

وفيما عفا من ربعها قبر مالك

As though you were Mutammim among the dwellings’ traces,

As if you were completing its structure

and in their faded dwelling-site lay Malik’s grave.”

And in what survived of its quarters lied your beloved

فقلت نعم هذي ديار عهدتها

فقلت نعم هذي ديار عهدتها

بها معشري مثل النجوم الشوابك

بها معشري مثل النجوم الشوابك

So I said, “Yes, these are dwellings I once knew,

So I said, yes this is an abode I knew well

with my people there like interlaced stars.

Where my friends dwelled like clustered stars

أصابهم ريب الزمان فأصبحت

أصابهم ريب الزمان فأصبحت

فقارا وهم ما بين ناء وهالك

فقارا وهم ما بين ناء وهالك

Time’s vicissitudes struck them, and the dwellings became

But time's adversity befell them and it became

desolate, while they are either far away or dead.”

Desolate while they were lost between survival and demise