1. Since we loved you, you have turned away, not keeping your promise,
You made light of sorrows too heavy for us to bear,

2. You said time would heal with separation, but what
Has softened the pain after such harshness?

3. We would be content if you were cold or warm to us,
Give us back that affection as it used to be.

4. It would gladden us however little your favors,
And please us however little your closeness.

5. When we pretend to be consoled for love of you,
Our tears flow belying our words.

6. If only the go-betweens, when they repeated our words,
Had moved you with their tears as they moved us.

7. They ruined our union with slander, it became estrangement,
What has made recollection into forgetfulness?

8. We love those we tend, though they alarm us,
And remember them until death, though they forget us.

9. How can we hide it, when our love is known,
Or conceal what was revealed when it first appeared?

10. If only the breeze would carry their fragrance to us
Sometimes, and other times their news!

11. They kept away, and did not yearn for us or yearn,
They granted favors and no favors, days and no days.

12. On earth are lovers who are not like us,
Captives of passion, hoping for no relief.