1. If your loved ones depart, will you depart too
Or have you already been cloaked in darkness

2. How will you fare in the belly of Mecca after
Those you love have saddled up to leave

3. Or how will your heart be if you lie sick
Apart from them, your sorrow plain to see

4. Not long ago, they were your neighbors
Bustling about them, as if herding them home

5. Denied water at the reservoir, yearning
Lying in wait for the nod of the bucket puller

6. Though I may grant intimacy, it was not
Through any action of mine, but hands beyond

7. I leave behind those who grace me with their love
Entrusting the love of each thing, animate and not

8. O my life! Estrange me or make amends
For love of you has enthralled my heart

9. How often did I disobey well-wishers
Of kin or warnings of enemies

10. And risk myself heedless of discretion
Yearning for you with no guide to lead my way

11. In a marriage bed, if ever I touch it
Sorrowful, withdrawn, shunning intimacy

12. I have no company but my sword
And an arm that bends like the crescent moon lies prone

13. And I see that is no use to me
As long as I live devoted to you in passion and love

14. Only hope remains, though I weary of
Pursuing you, content with less than perfection