1. This is the book of a young man who preserves your absence,
Burdened with remembering you, O Zulaima of refinement.

2. If you are absent, his eyes find comfort in his tears,
And if his eyes catch sight of you, they do not glance away.

3. You have become the preoccupation of his tongue, heart,
And eyelids with persistent, halted lamentation.

4. The lover regrets staying behind, and has not stopped
Since you left, between regret and gasping longing.

5. I wish that when I remained behind, I had not traveled,
Or when I traveled, that he had not stayed behind.