1. The infant of light has grown accustomed to separation
While the old man of night has grayed since his youth departed

2. And the night is but time itself made weary by its vicissitudes
It is but its usurpation and wonders

3. Woe to the night from a night whose length makes morn break
Where the memory of passion disputes me and I dispute it

4. I sought through it a union whose era had expired
But not every sought thing is granted its seeker

5. When the dead of sleep revived my watchful eyes
For a phantom that resembled truth in its deception

6. Patience remains falsely quartered, merely there
To graze its pasture and clear its drinking places

7. And I have a benefactor who has badly checked me, though
Good may come from a check at the start of matters

8. So no union unless its specter brings me near
No separation unless its miles keep me apart

9. And I have a burning liver amid the seas of ardour
Whereupon sail the ships of love and its vessels

10. Is there then a shore nearby where may land
The drowner in a night whose stars do not guide?

11. O my two friends - would you kindly show moderation
For the distant thing may be brought near by its searchers

12. Beware of his coquetry and his eyelids
For they are but his make-believe and his callousness

13. And beware the tautened bow whose arrows
Have you not seen its glances and eyebrows strike you?

14. What is upon one with a beauty-spot on his cheek
If his father was jealous or his kin were upset?

15. On his cheek is a mole that has graced his form
As the line of the lam graced the hand of its writer

16. I cried while he laughed loudly - can despoiler and despoiled be alike?
From burning in the chest has sparked its flame

17. And from a tear pouring down the cheek its pourer
My bosom friend, why, when my wings were plundered

18. Did I lose my money and its pillager gain?
For we are no full moons that whenever I glance

19. Bewilderments roam in it and its mysteries
When will the chaste lad not yearn, having set out

20. With his dawning place unknown and his setting place obscured?
Give rest to a lad straitened in his love's horizons

21. Who found no passions in love to console him
Whether he draws near he is spurned, and if he keeps away, who?

22. And who retreats from him and who draws near?
However much union calls him, separation opposes him

23. So who supports him and who contends with him?
And however much health relieves him, pain returns to him

24. So who comforts him and who reproaches him?
And however much despair prohibits him, grief drives him

25. So who sides with him and who wars against him?
For the flags of his regiment of composure have been routed

26. While the troops of ardour have unfurled their banners
And he wakes to find no easy union

27. Or dwelling of the beloved that brings him near
For one whose patience is little, no life gratifies

28. Just as no patience, unless its gains are wholesome
For not every eye delights in beauty

29. Nor every ear kept safe by its answerer
Not everyone who rode had his steeds returned

30. Nor everyone who came had his vessels anchored
One claims longing who is not longing

31. As one observes the deserted encampment who does not watch over it
So the English translation preserves the meaning and poetic essence of the original Arabic poem.