1. What do you ask of melodies and strings
And drawings wiped out by the passing wind?

2. Places I studied with every passerby
And every loving friend near inhabited dwellings

3. Their games are devoid of every singer
My passion for them, though I hid it, was evident

4. I used to be delighted to see them
Drawing near, pulling in their midst the train of my cloak

5. Until that vivacity disappeared from
Those places when the friends were gone

6. Stronger than the loveliest gazelles
Yearning and giving with glances and bodies

7. And the full moon reveals the beauty of each doe
And everything delicate is like a bending branch

8. They turned away and I became thirsty for a mouthful
That used to quench the anguish of the ardent lover

9. So blessed was the time when they used to visit
My singing sanctuary without procrastination or appointment

10. But they are gone - who remains faithful
To unbroken covenants and pacts?

11. They begrudged my nearness though once they were generous with it
Freely, before shunning and avoiding me

12. Even my imagination, though it was generous
With the false comfort and joy it bestowed

13. Has now, out of envy, begrudged what it used to grant me
Until it became one of my adversaries

14. Today, that time has left me nothing but
The agony of a heart with memories of homelands

15. I complain of love and repeated blame, for
Complaining has become my trusted friend

16. O courtyard - before its roots disappeared
It was familiar with my confidantes and visitors

17. The morning used to water it, whenever
Eyes of onlookers and regulars saw it

18. The beautiful is quenched by what the clouds bestow - so how often
A sight delights visitors and worshipers

19. So how has a garden flourished whose bushes
Feared not the assault of the wild forest’s lion?

20. Time has changed from what it used to prolong with it
Replacing reform with corruption

21. It gave you from the torrents of misfortune overflowing
The valley floods with its water

22. My tears that you used to tend
Have left no trace behind to increase

23. Every day I see the camels led away
And the stallion chases behind them the guide

24. They cross every distant, desolate plain
In its expanse when the guide turns them back

25. Lowering their necks when the meadow sprawls them
Bending over it with necks and shoulders

26. Yearning for fresh grazing, though weak
Seeking between slopes and dunes

27. My friend - separation has been long and I am
Weary of the company of led camels and sheep

28. My passion, which has weakened my endurance
Refuses that I be led to it like an obedient camel

29. Whenever the mention of love tempts me
A heart drawn to ruins debates me

30. The loved ones traveled from all parts of Kazima
And blamed me for censure and rebuke

31. The day passed and its caravan traveled on
And the night increased my sleeplessness and darkness