1. You have cut off verse from me, my friend
And one like you is not described as stingy

2. So no more love poems or complaining of the times
Or crooked traces of longing

3. Do not ask of distance or union
Or describe a cheek or slender waist

4. I opened the door to the poets of Egypt
And poems came to us like floods

5. Did I speak the truth about them
Do you want more proof?

6. They have words like the wind within
Not just pleasing fancy

7. A day passes without hearing
A word from you, however long the wait

8. If seeing each other was precious
Is being present with the Messenger not more precious?

9. Do we not have mail to every land
And ships on the sea like horses

10. By your life, avoiding openly
Is ugly, unfit for one beautiful like you

11. We are content with intention and what it yields
That is the will of the Sublime Lord

12. But to sever ties is more harmful
Than despairing of connection

13. So if you are occupied, say briefly
We will be content with little from you

14. Whatever you bring of verse or prose
It is the spray of inclusiveness

15. Let the one who does good have no blame
And no way upon a lover