1. I tightened my belt around the waist of determination
And stripped my will of the twin of my sword

2. I got up with the intention of one whose fetters were untied
But destiny seated me as I stood

3. If a command from Allah calls out to me
I will retreat though my beloved is before me

4. How can I intend to come to you
When my rein is in the grip of fate?

5. It is but an unending estrangement
Wherein after old age I see myself a lad

6. As if my exile were requited
By Sam's tribe for Ham's tribe

7. Nothing makes a man grey like estrangement
Each day of which seems to him a year

8. Did I travel except seeking sublime purpose?
As if for the stars I were a pointer

9. I am an arrow in its flight, would that
I were directed toward the abode of loved ones

10. O Abul Hasan, hear my excuse I have sent
You remain still, paired with permanence

11. If you cannot bear leaving a people
Sustain yourself with what your stay provides

12. You have conveyed a soul longing for me
As if your words were woven with words

13. A letter came to me, its script embellished
As gathering clouds adorn the meadow

14. I took it from a gentle palm as though
I cooled the heat of noon with sweet water

15. It walked in my conscience with joy as walked
The cure of recovery in the illness of fever

16. As if I grasped the missive in my right hand
And was told, "Enter Paradise in peace"

17. Think not that I forgot you
For the pleasure of music or a cup of wine

18. Nor did I laugh, could I laugh, without
Placing a seal on the outpouring of tears?

19. When did I willingly choose separation
To prolong yearning for the day we meet?

20. Think not that I fear the cutting of ties
While the trotting steed keeps trotting on

21. My heated soul breathed in the heat
As the polished sword breathes in its sheath

22. Nor do I stay still on a gloomy night
Whose riding party roams in deepest dark

23. When clouds rumble in the sky, their downpour
Speaking of youth though hairs are turning white

24. Did I not mount a longing soul for you
On steeds green of mantle, fleet of foot?

25. Did I not, in the deluge, gesture with my palm
Yet survive only through meeting a dove?

26. Did I not lose the sun whose light
Used to dispel all darkness from my eyelids?

27. I hoped through all this to meet you
So one smitten with love suffers for love

28. The remainder of loved ones contained
In dwellings where none rested in slumber

29. I took the reins of my days for you
Yet they betrayed me, slipping the bridle

30. You dispersed in estrangement, each direction
Scattered clouds when the sky lost order

31. One group, my will cannot conquer
Another, my wishes Rome drives away

32. Good tidings someone told me, you reunited
Obediently, to gain reward for my prayers

33. I await a day when union will join
Tears' bridles between us, bridle to bridle

34. When I come to you, will you not lay out
From his tomb the buried estrangement, not buried bodies?