1. O you who show estrangement yet harbor love,
Your love will only grow if you stay away.

2. We have a neighbor in Egypt who seems
As if she dwells on the outskirts of Al-Jīḥān.

3. Some eyes look on her with enmity and avoid her,
While other eyes cannot doubt their love for her.

4. She has gained your trust through her honesty, so the more
You draw near, the further you push her away.

5. If what makes me weep leads to tranquility,
I would not pour out my tears in floods.

6. But I cry from an exhausting effort,
Whose end, if I fall short, is the grave.

7. You have disavowed me though you are my beloved,
So praise your Lord for healing you of me.

8. If you tasted my torment and anguish,
You would be glad if I found peace and saw no distress.

9. You have fortified yourself with estrangement, a fortress against passion.
If only you had done so before sickening my heart!

10. She made you taste the sweetness of love, then pretended
Not to know you, with a face that knew no steadfastness.