غَزاكَ الشَّيْبُ مِنْ لَوٍّ ولَيْتا

غَزاكَ الشَّيْبُ مِنْ لَوٍّ ولَيْتا

وما قالَتْ لَكَ الأيَّامُ هَيْتَا

وما قالَتْ لَكَ الأيَّامُ هَيْتَا

Gray hair has assailed you through “if” and “if only”;

Old age has overcome you with grief and woe

And the days never said to you, “Come hither.”

Yet the days have not said "Alas!" to you

"لأينِكَ" قَدْ سَعى رَكْبُ المآسي

"لأينِكَ" قَدْ سَعى رَكْبُ المآسي

كأنَّكَ للمآسي صِرتَ بَيْتًا

كأنَّكَ للمآسي صِرتَ بَيْتًا

The caravan of tragedies has hastened to where you are,

The caravan of sorrows has striven

As though you had become a home for tragedies.

As though for sorrows you were made a home

وأسقتك الحياةُ ذؤاف سمٍّ

وأسقتك الحياةُ ذؤاف سمٍّ

بِميْسمِ جمرها يا ما اكتويتا

بِميْسمِ جمرها يا ما اكتويتا

And life has given you deadly poison to drink;

And life has let you drink a fiery poison

Oh, how often you were seared by the branding iron of its embers!

With the seasons of its embers, oh how you have been seared!

تُغادِرُكَ الأماني مُقْفِراتٍ

تُغادِرُكَ الأماني مُقْفِراتٍ

وَيَنْتَزِعُ الرَّصيفُ خُطًى مَشَيْتا

وَيَنْتَزِعُ الرَّصيفُ خُطًى مَشَيْتا

Barren hopes abandon you,

Hopes abandon you, empty-handed,

And the pavement tears away the steps you took.

And the pavement wrests away steps you have walked

طويتَ مِنَ الهُمومِ لَظى حَريقٍ

طويتَ مِنَ الهُمومِ لَظى حَريقٍ

فأعلنَ كَهْلُ قلبِكَ ما طَويْتا

فأعلنَ كَهْلُ قلبِكَ ما طَويْتا

You folded away a blazing fire of cares;

You have folded the flames of worries

So your heart’s aging man proclaimed what you had folded away.

So the old age of your heart reveals what you have folded

مَدَدْتَ يَدَ الرَّجاءِ إلى سَرابٍ

مَدَدْتَ يَدَ الرَّجاءِ إلى سَرابٍ

وقَدْ خَلاكَ مَنْ كُنتَ ارْتَجَيْتا

وقَدْ خَلاكَ مَنْ كُنتَ ارْتَجَيْتا

You stretched the hand of hope toward a mirage,

You have extended the hand of hope to a mirage

And the one in whom you placed your hope has already deserted you.

And those you hoped for have left you behind

وكَمْ نادَيْتَ ما أسْمَعْتَ حَيًّا

وكَمْ نادَيْتَ ما أسْمَعْتَ حَيًّا

فَكَيْفَ سَيَسْمَعُ الأحْيــــاءُ مَيْتًا؟

فَكَيْفَ سَيَسْمَعُ الأحْيــــاءُ مَيْتًا؟

And how often you called out, yet made no living soul hear;

And how you called but did not hear the living

So how will the living hear a dead man?

So how will the living now hear you, who are dead?