1. How many would say, had they met her,
Their eyes would deny the sight of her.

2. Withered, emaciated, the cruel hand of grief
Has erased her beauty.

3. Do not meet her, do not see her, for
Death has passed her, missing her.

4. And ask yourself, is there still
Any love or memory left for her?

5. Two years have passed, and a third,
And one alone would suffice to forget her.

6. Yet you are like the bee, from flower
To flower, it leads you to her.

7. You both erred, not knowing what love is,
You both strayed, ignorant of its essence.

8. Illness does not turn a man’s face
From the face of his beloved, though it wore him down.

9. No, it does not distance him, even if
It were among the harshest afflictions.

10. And death does not wear out a lover’s passion,
Though it wore down his beloved’s body.

11. Take Qays, for example, if examples you seek,
He is the highest of them.

12. He continued to visit Layla’s grave
Until he breathed his last breath and joined her.

13. Do you not see that the bee, wherever it lands,
Does not forget its home?

14. My eyes sought another, yet
My heart clung to her songs.

15. Yes, I have tasted the love of others,
But none pleased my heart but her.

16. If I find beauty, it reminds me of hers,
If a melody, it recalls her voice.

17. Or if I say in my lament, “Oh!”,
The valley echoes her sigh.

18. Wronged, led to an unjust man,
Who soured her mornings and evenings.

19. Her father was a harsh shepherd
To the wolf, not the lover - he raised her.