1. If you burn her dwelling place in the heart,
Then who after that will honor her abode?

2. And if the eyes shed their water at her estrangement,
Then from which eye will the doe expect its watering?

3. The tears on the day of separation are but raindrops
That we sprinkled on the vestige in the ruins of the abode.

4. Spring did not bloom the flowers, but rather
The tears saw the buds of the branches adorned.

5. When separation revealed the secret of our chests,
And enabled the eyes therein to take aim and shoot,

6. We counted the tears of the eyes when they flowed
As coats of mail of beautiful patience that we stripped off.

7. When we stood to bid farewell, and my eyes interpreted
What was in the conscience through her eyes,

8. An image appeared in a temple, and had we
Believed in Christianity’s creeds, we would have worshipped it.

9. The reason we recited poetry was not infatuation,
But the day unveiled the mirror of intuitions to its viewer.

10. We passed a night in the darkness of our youth,
As my destiny and the night of calamities passed their time.

11. The spirits of youth give off a scent whenever
The morning breeze of the Compassionate fans them at night’s end.

12. However much we passed around the wine cup, her eyelids
From the wind give us to drink what we have already drunk.

13. If on the day of pain he finds naught in his right hand
To give his questioner but youth, he gives it.

14. O king of the world and ruler of its people,
The policy of one who weighed matters and weighed them well,

15. And tasked the days against their nature,
Thus witnessing the horrors of afflictions and so enduring them—

16. May a glance bring serenity to my heart and eyes,
Its echo, for I constantly try to drive it away.