1. Nothing but nearness, O Yusuf, can comfort you
With delight unlike any other that melts souls

2. The days have given you a draft of passion
And passed around cups from afar

3. They have distanced you from your beloved, and this separation
Gives the young man pleasure and kisses

4. Where are your days when you would not
Sleep dissatisfied with the consent of a sulking lover

5. When a lover would give you sweet wine
Whose sweetness disdains even honey

6. One with a slender figure who, when he walked in the garden
Taught the branch to bend with his stature

7. He often visited in the darkness, his perfume
Mimicking musk at sunset

8. Secretly, fearing blame, and he who hides
A union attempts veiling

9. He upheld his promise while the promise of companionship
Broke from my goblet and intimate quarter

10. A land I never recalled but
Longing stirred the most dormant passion in me

11. And my tears flowed like valleys
While my heart roared with love

12. Since I left its people, life’s delight
Never tasted good with a sullen companion

13. Of folk who learned discipline and who
Grew and matured as seedlings

14. They supported their Lord’s faith with principles
That humiliated many armies and foes

15. People stand in awe and dignity
When they see them sitting

16. May God protect them from evil and immorality
Unlike other people and hypocrisy