1. No, by the chill of parting and the heat of separation,
My heart finds no relief from the pain of distant love.

2. How can the burning anguish of my heart be hidden
When my eyes are ever tearful with sorrow?

3. My spirit concealed it but my tearful eyes revealed it,
My tears speak though my eyelids are silent.

4. O you gazelle, scornful of your lover,
A comet disappearing into the far horizon.

5. How often I call you, the more I call the less I find you.
How often I call you, the less I see you appear before me.

6. Save me from these unfeeling eyelids, for my patience
Has died from the delicate blades of separation.

7. And aid me against these killing glances, for I cannot
Withstand the piercing arrows shot from your eyes.

8. I wish for no other but you, O master of my soul,
Do not condemn me to the disgrace of liberation.

9. May God forgive your eyebrows that pelted me
With the arrows shot from your bright piercing eyes.

10. And guard that bright forehead lest it be claimed
By the people of all horizons as their own.

11. How many nights of union we shared,
In embraces, in bliss, in intimate hugging.

12. We sipped the wine of radiant faces in the darkness,
Brilliant suns veiled in black tangled hair.

13. We drank from lips like cups,
Whose wine brought joy to lovers.

14. We plucked branches from killing glances,
Cast aside by the twittering of ardent passions.

15. In gardens and roses and beautiful cheeks,
Adorned with narcissus-like bright eyes.

16. Where the wine of union is the sweetest wine,
And the taste of separation the most bitter taste.

17. O my heart, be patient with this separation,
For distance has come between us against our will.

18. Do not despair when you are hurt,
After separation comes the joy of reunion.

19. By the one whose glances, when they glance,
Are greeted by gazelles glancing back.

20. Stingy with union yet generous in nature,
Narrow of eye yet broad in character.

21. A branch of Bān, a dune of shifting sands,
A full moon of Tamm, a sand hill of trysts.

22. He came seeking with the sun of comfort, so I ransomed it
With my passion in the dawn and dark of night.

23. It was but a breeze, yet in truth a soul,
A wonder made by the decree of concord.

24. A virgin who walked gracefully in a garden
Adorned with clustering jeweled necklaces.

25. A fire whose cup is pure rainwater,
And wondrous is this water to the fire.

26. She fell in love with the mouths of the repentant,
And the one who loves was gifted with her mouth’s kiss.