شحطنا وما بالدار نأيٌ ولا شحط

شحطنا وما بالدار نأيٌ ولا شحط

وشط بمن نهوى المزارُ ولا شطوا

وشط بمن نهوى المزارُ ولا شطوا

We have grown distant, though the dwelling holds neither distance nor remoteness.

We yearn, though home no longer cheers us; yearning itself

And visits to those we love have grown remote, though they have not gone far.

Suffices him whom his loved ones' tombs call, though no answer comes.

أاحبابنا ألوت بحادث عهدنا

أاحبابنا ألوت بحادث عهدنا

حوادثُ لا عهدٌ عليها ولا شرط

حوادثُ لا عهدٌ عليها ولا شرط

O our loved ones, our newly made covenant has been swept away

Our friends are buried in the whirlpool of time past-

By calamities bound by neither covenant nor condition.

Whirlpools where no pact holds, no pledge.

لعمركم ان الزمان الذي مضى

لعمركم ان الزمان الذي مضى

بتشتيت جمع الشمل منا لمشتط

بتشتيت جمع الشمل منا لمشتط

By your lives, the time that has passed

By your lives! Days gone by rent our company.

In scattering our united company has indeed gone too far.

There was no help for it; Fate divided us.

وأما الكرى مذ لم أزركم فهاجرٌ

وأما الكرى مذ لم أزركم فهاجرٌ

زيارته غب وإلمامه فرط

زيارته غب وإلمامه فرط

And as for sleep, since I have not visited you, it has deserted me;

As for my heart's desire, since I visited you not,

Its visits are intermittent, its brief appearances rare.

It wanders astray, goes on alone, errs from the path.

كأن فؤادي حيث أهوى مودعاً

كأن فؤادي حيث أهوى مودعاً

هوى خافقاً منه بحيث هوى القرط

هوى خافقاً منه بحيث هوى القرط

As though my heart, entrusted where I love,

My heart, where'er it longs, is like a bird

Fell, fluttering, from him to where the earring fell.

Beating its wings in fear, lost far from home.