1. He obeyed passion after them and disobeyed patience
So he has no prohibition upon him nor command

2. And the old love returned to him, so it consoled him
With an intimacy whose confinement was too narrow for his chest and patience

3. As if fate intended no tranquility but his company
And flowed only towards that which destiny had saddened

4. And is there any joy for the people of this world? Indeed
It is only living and misery or death and the grave

5. And every gathering is lying in ambush for parting
And every union will inevitably be followed by separation

6. And nothing can drive away the painful misfortune when it comes
Except patience, though it is like its name, bitter

7. I poured in the bosoms of dwellings a call
With coldness in me yet a burning coal in my liver

8. After your separation, my life was darkened
So all my time is a night that has no dawn

9. I blame my days for you though they have no fault
And the nights have no excuse for what is between us

10. After our parting, our union was shattered
Like the cracking of al-Safa, which will never mend

11. The turns of fate kept trying to separate us
So when what was between us ended, fate became still

12. Woe to a time whose turns separated us
Did it have a vow to separate us?

13. Whenever the memory of you comes to me on my bed
It is as if my mattress is filled with embers

14. I become confused, answering no caller
Bewildered, not recognizing family or stranger

15. I cast the splinters of the earth in your direction
With a sleepy eye whose tears after you drip

16. It shed the bridles of tears for you, so if yearning calls it
It answers though reluctant, a meager flow

17. And it avoided the sweetness of sleep after your separation
So that for a year, no eyelids come together

18. Perhaps a glance from you will wipe away the grit
Alas the expanse of earth has no cover but you

19. Though the hour of death promised your nearness
Its pledge made me doubt its honesty

20. How could you come when fate does not favor
With enemies and raging seas between us

21. Refuge! If the winds blew to their demise
Fear would forbid and repel their darkest quest

22. Naught remains but the memory of what was between us
No wonder time erases memory

23. A tremor of yearning for you overtakes me
As the sparrow trembled when dripped upon

24. O my tremor, quiet not after their remoteness
O comfort of days, your tryst is the resurrection