1. To God I complain of affliction after affliction
And separation from one whose loss rends my soul

2. He left with my heart accompanying him - would that
I had gone with him wherever he traveled

3. He left on seas with the wind impelling him
Yet he is but the breath of my sighing, my agony

4. To you, morning breeze, comes news of him
For with your thoughts you know the messages of my mind

5. I have no need for telegraph wires
To greet him in secret, and he knows my greeting

6. O heart, traveling from the breast of Beirut
To the dwellings of Liverpool, that proudest city

7. They said, O people of the neighborhood, among you
Is a gazelle - so treat him with kindness

8. The boughs of the wild plum envy him when he appears
With a form that calls him a date palm

9. A youth whose hands were inscribed by elegance
With lines that speak of the goodness of his character

10. A natural disposition adorned with beneficence and piety
And those two excellent companions in a foreign land

11. A messenger came to me from him with a letter
Steeped in musk like the soft perfumed Gamadia

12. I stood to read the prose of its beautiful phrases
But my tears poured forth and broke my composure

13. If my heart had not already engraved it
I would curb my tears lest they erase it

14. If my soul were not already infused with longing for you
I would ransom it, for as long as it remains my soul

15. Without you, Michael, is a hell for me
And to cling to hopes of nearness to you is my heaven

16. And when my passion grew and its fires blazed
I sent you my greeting by means of the ink

17. Joseph, with Antoine, with John - all excellent brothers
Likewise Peter with Paul, the best of comrades

18. With them Ameely, and Miriam, and she
Who in Fleta is called, with Ablah and my family

19. Conveying from a loving heart a greeting
Accompanied by the affection of devoted Hanna