1. He sang with a heart full of injustice and suffering
Like fiery kilns with four burning corners,

2. Ever fueling a blazing fire,
No stones thrown atop would diminish the flames,

3. Nor turn them to ashes or vanishing embers,
But rather, the stones resemble fine powder blown away.

4. My stony heart is imprinted by the fire of my passion
As they imprint designs on burning kilns.

5. The kiln cracks when the kindling is lit,
And the fire within me chars my core.

6. Had the fire severed me, its sparks would have called me,
Had death beckoned in my dwelling, the soul would be absent.

7. Though I say my soul would leave with my burning fervor,
Wisdom prevents my soul’s misguided fancy.

8. O my weakness, greatest worry, and tribulation
A festering wound clinging inside my heart.

9. I never thought tribulations could be remedied,
Nor every illness cured by medicine,

10. Nor all worries ended by patience,
Nor hearts cleansed of passions by time.

11. Dawn only follows the setting sun,
No rested eye with tearful sores like one crying in sadness.

12. There’s no wedding's joy or revelry,
Only bereaved women mourning as elegists.

13. No carefree heart filled by diversion,
Like a heart burdened by tragedies and adversities.

14. The bitterness of patience and anguish cannot equal
The sweetness of wine in the mouth of a drinker.

15. The crippled man who lost his cane
Cannot walk steadily like one supported by crutches.

16. Pilgrims suffering thirst and exhaustion
Are unlike one carried comfortably on a litter.

17. The sightless blind man cannot see like one
Who spots insects crawling in the dark of night.

18. There is such difference between a mother who lost her son
And one with a family that loves her.

19. This one sheds tears that stream down her cheeks,
While the other gathers loved ones fulfilling her hopes.

20. The difference between one dispersed like me
And another who sees his loved ones each day,

21. Is like the difference between fish and soil,
Even if a seeker journeys far between them.

22. When comparing my state, their judgment misses the mark,
And seems strange when gauging my condition.

23. O you who knows, who understands my adversity,
Let your voice resound among the tribes and Arabs.

24. Time casts me aside, fate persists in my woe,
Its arrow never misses its bow against me.

25. It estranged and betrayed me, violating its bond,
And Destiny decreed I remain far from joy.

26. We departed against our will,
With no one to cool our burning sorrows.

27. Affliction upon us grew, our fortune wavered,
We left like salt scattered without trace.

28. Captives in our enemy’s monastery,
Some of us took asylum in the Zanati West,

29. Others in Rhodes when its sun had set,
We came to Anatolia, lost without a guide,

30. Captives among barbaric jurists,
Who are used to debauchery like long-standing habits,

31. Those who see you among them
Are drunkards and sinners sipping cups.

32. Most are beasts I’ve never seen the likes of,
Like bears - were it not for their garments.

33. May God make easy our deliverance
From among the twisting roads and hazards.

34. O Lord, Creator of earth and sky,
Controller of the universe’s order in Your grasp,

35. O Maker of the shining sun in its light,
The moon, planets and celestial stars.

36. O Expander of the heavens, Raiser of the skies,
Dispatcher of clouds, sailing above the hazy horizons.

37. O Knower of the unseen, You hear my sorrows,
And can deliver those who suffer injustice.

38. By the station of the Prophet sent as guidance,
The best of mankind, from East and West.

39. By the pure Prophets, all of them,
Through the Opening Chapter, You ease afflictions.

40. Deliver us all from distress,
Reunite those separated and departed.

41. O Gatherer of mankind, reunite families,
Until the Day of Truth when souls are judged.

42. After my soul was tempted to abandon loyalty,
And drink the cup of estrangement – such bitter elixir!

43. I ignited over simmering embers,
Like an unjustly wronged man seeking refuge.

44. Its sparks and flames rise facing West,
Not found in familiar hearths.

45. For three years the injustice did not tear it apart,
As it endured, fleeing across the horizon.

46. I saddled the white-footed camel,
My worries on its back more precious than onyx jewels.

47. Traveling at night with fine Syrian cloth,
And expensive Khazz fabric atop the beast.

48. The howdah like a bed with lined cushions
And four carved ivory corners above the saddlecloth.

49. We set out led by the guide’s steps
Through the adorned beauty of this visionary terrain.

50. The food of Anatolia is honeycomb,
You’d think it too precious to request.

51. And I carried a broad belt and scabbard,
With a polished Indian sword for battle.

52. Two rifles by the howdah and ready cartridges
In a bandolier from the Krupp foundry workshop.

53. By God who guided you, O Tār ash-Shawā
To strongly slay the roaming bandits.

54. I recognized you, my Lord and Creator,
When dawn rose from Sīnāb, your sturdy camel.

55. Would that it be accompanied by its celestial Stars and Shape,
The charging warrior and vanquisher.

56. Make way at Ankara, guard yourself from the ducks,
Pass by the side of Kayseri and Konya.

57. Lower your pace at Aksaray and Kırşehir,
Rein in your galloping camel, O glittering star.

58. Pass by Mardeen and Diyarbakır unchanged,
But avoid Aleppo by night or day.

59. Turn from ash-Shahbā and meet the caravan,
Only Homs in the morning awaits you.

60. Alight in the rest stops, O Heider the Guide,
Drink from the waterbag and slacken its bindings.

61. When the mirage appears and the sun stretches its shadows,
Its spectrum falls in the middle of the vanishing sunset.

62. Pass by fragrant Damascus, abode of gardens,
Where the gardens of Syria are most beautiful.

63. If you reach the Damascus prison, my wish is with you,
Tether your camels and let them graze freely.

64. Greet the soul I pine for, Abu Hassan,
My brother estranged in the world on all sides.

65. My brother estranged in the world, my pillar in distress,
O you whose love melts my soul.

66. O you whose worry threw me, and whose absence destroyed me,
Leaving my head turned white.

67. Abu Hassan, since the day they denounced you,
And branded you a traitor, falsely accused.

68. My eyes shed tears streaming down my cheeks,
Crying out their grievance over you.

69. Nothing else burns within me but your injustice,
Nothing else my melancholic eyes long for but to see you.

70. Neither loss of money nor sustenance,
I wish they were sacrificed for you, O Solace of sorrows.

71. Money cannot prevent the enemies' gloating,
But losing you gave them cause for glee.

72. Your loss, my longing, and what befell me
Made my withered body collapse.

73. Nothing but your injustice took away my cunning and strength,
Nothing but you did my lion cub eyes vigilantly await.

74. I have none other than you to fear for in tribulation,
In Damascus, Syria, where my kin reside.

75. My imagination is as if I am among you all,
Even though your being is absent, O my soul’s purpose.

76. My eyes shed tears from the supplies of my burning,
The fire of resentment within me ever flaming.

77. As if I am an ostrich who plucked out its feathers,
Ingesting the poison of estrangement that I drink.

78. I have no cure that heals my illness of affliction
Other than seeing you, though destiny keeps you veiled.

79. No intimate can alleviate my worry when it overflows,
Nor an intercessor people seek out for gifts.

80. Except for God to relieve us of our distress,
If God returns to show us wonders, nothing is impossible.

81. God is Most-Generous, we hope He will release us,
No servant in secret was ever left disappointed.

82. I vow, if time brings us back together,
And I see you with my eyes before departing this life,

83. I will visit you specially in Hutayn,
And host a banquet with all the nomads.

84. I will rejoice like drunkards in their drunkenness,
And delight like a lover reunited with his beloved.

85. I will praise my era after my broken spirit,
Befriending those who caused strife and war.

86. It isn’t too enormous for God to relieve our worries
And release us from the binds of distress.

87. After erring, we pray upon the Prophet—
The Chosen One sought by all riders—

88. To deliver us all from tribulation,
And relieve its heat and suffering.