1. I yearn for you, though we’re destined to part,
And I laud the one whose tears freely start,

2. I put my trust in the complainers, and so
For your memory, my days slide toward the dark,

3. Nor can I own a passion that would
Distress me so, with tears in eager spark,

4. How could I draw back searing breaths
That if exhaled would set the air aflark?

5. I seek to approach the liar in sweet talk,
Not the honest lovers we are set apart.

6. Her phantom pains me, and the rue fills me,
My companions, pillows for the company.

7. We stayed put, necklaces tightened ‘round our necks,
Choking in the narrowest complicity.

8. We took from her the alleys, though we
Were the alleys’ contents in verity.

9. With proportion, as though the sun revealed
Through it, to us, pure consistency.

10. It has a pallor that revives the flock, and
Languor in breaths airy sheer.

11. Branches that say, when bent:
“Wine—the cupbearers never poured us!”

12. Are the days confining my shackles
So I leave or unclamping my choke hold?

13. Is there in Damascus for me a face
I would visit or one I flee?

14. I held on, my palm never wavered,
But the rope of my clinging did fail.

15. And I say most: may he give Ibn Fahd
His life—how his hospitality flowed!

16. He pelted me with degradation till my glory sank,
And hope of catching up to him daily assailed,

17. And he was excessive in love toward estrangement
So when I drew near he swelled cracks in the veil.

18. I walked in the dark, like the full moon
Lit long by my journey through the night.

19. And if the wine circulates I have from him
Unruly mares no one can rein.

20. They keep me company, but gently
I let them go, like the quiver’s loose shaft.

21. They deafen me to the melodies so sweet
And give me light from the pourer’s hand.

22. Those who drew me close now keep afar,
Though my leg paves no fiery road.

23. They pull me if Damascus cramps me,
Into Iraq’s wide and open abode.

24. Still, I leave behind an abiding love
Sheltered in the shrine of my chest’s depths,

25. And I recall your rope, firmly anchored,
And your sweet affection’s sapor kept

26. Remaining with unending tears
That flow but never flood or lap.

27. How many a slave recalls a master’s deeds
And melts for the kindnesses shown of old!

28. God’s peace upon a steed, when it paces
The staff of the race in its manifold,

29. Ambling at ease through the lengthy portico,
No far place too far for it to bolt.

30. I stood over it, love brought to rest,
Fixed in tenderness and the narrow way.

31. Thanks that no misfortune swerved
Or blocked the road forever and a day.

32. It’s enough I meet my hopes at dawn
When I see and embrace you, like day breaks.