لَمّا تَهَدَّدَني نَصيرٌ بِالنَّوى

لَمّا تَهَدَّدَني نَصيرٌ بِالنَّوى

أُفزِعتُ مِن نَأيٍ إِلى هِجران

أُفزِعتُ مِن نَأيٍ إِلى هِجران

When Nasir threatened me with separation,

When my friend threatened me with estrangement

I was driven by fear from distance to abandonment.

I was startled from intimacy into alienation

فَكَأنَّني في ذا وَذَلك حائِرٌ

فَكَأنَّني في ذا وَذَلك حائِرٌ

قَد فَرَّ مِن أَسَدٍ إِلى ثُعبانِ

قَد فَرَّ مِن أَسَدٍ إِلى ثُعبانِ

So, between this and that, I am like a bewildered man

So I was in that perplexed and confused

Who has fled from a lion to a serpent.

As though I had fled from a lion to a serpent