1. A letter came to me from my brother and father
So my joy exceeded that from my friends and comrades

2. And when it came to me, it revealed my worries to Allah
Like the joining of a lover to a distant beloved

3. I turn it over again and fold it at times
And unfold it again at those sights

4. So I became full of intense longing as if I were
A loving brother stirred by the mention of covenants

5. Oh one who is alone in his estrangement and aloofness
I am sympathetic in longing to a sympathizer

6. And I have from burning longing what has denied
Slumber to my eyelids from the sweet sleeping places

7. And if a thousand lines would not give pleasure to our hearts
With them, lines on paper would not console us

8. And if before union there were impassable ravines
We would cross, creeping through the impassable ravines