1. The mother of Sa'd has forsaken me, and her love
Creeps through my limbs, flowing like her blood.

2. Love has burdened me with unasked duties -
And her disdain has made love's burden heavier.

3. O you who rebuke me for passion, taste but one draught of it,
And chide me away from loving her, if you can.

4. You give me advice, though your advice kills me.
My soul is deaf to all who cry out to it.

5. I hope not for joy, being a true lover,
Were I to taste the water of life itself.

6. So mighty is my passion, so great my sigh,
So long my yearning and my thought of her.

7. Alone in the world I have loved, not knowing
Its ways, its earth, its firmament.

8. Men have learned from my suffering to weep,
And she, compelled, from my blindness.

9. My ribs are warped by burning,
My spirit is dazed with remembrance.

10. My soul for loss of her is murdered.
When the hour of her departure struck.

11. She wanders still through my imagination,
Changing my joy to grief, my weal to woe.

12. Those who once nested on her boughs lament
Since she forsook her home and strayed afar.

13. Never again will her breast press mine,
Or her lips - once - kiss my lips.