1. Your tears are enough evidence of my inner turmoil,
For they have expressed what my ribs were hiding.

2. I concealed my love until my eyes spoke out,
With the tongues of my eyelids and passionate glances.

3. Had those dwellings not moved away from the abode,
My eyes would not have neglected preserving secrets.

4. O dwelling place that once had beautiful vitality,
But is now a place for ruins.

5. Peace be upon you from a passionate one, who
Lies awake at night, burning with intense yearning.

6. Before separation, you were the most beloved,
My ribs’ torment climbed like rising stars.

7. They huddled in the folds of coolness, as branches
Of spindly trees bend in persistent winds.

8. When separation dragged on, I became submissive -
Whereas before, I was not so with loved ones.

9. In the evening I resigned myself to ghosts,
Content, though I was not so with their company.

10. So the days, in their predictable way, distanced us,
With continuity being the way they operate.

11. Thus when the doves coo over the barren valley,
I rush to join the wailing, plaintive doves.

12. Branches call to each other from above,
As if their twigs were built like minarets.

13. A dove's lament wakes me whenever
She sings from the tip of a supple branch.

14. She wails without losing a mate or being struck
By the days’ hands with calamities.

15. She did not leave the shade of places to rest,
Nor did she become disgusted with scenic roads.

16. So let not the critics rebuke me if
My eyelids drew imaginations from my distracted mind.

17. What came between me and my loved ones
Is a desolate expanse, devoid of villages or homes.

18. I passed by her abode, and its rubble brought me to a standstill,
Now a yellow wasteland without any dwellings.

19. I spoke to it, seeking company, but
My words to the ruins were of no use.

20. May God water with my tears the place
That is home to the gazelles’ stopping point.

21. The clouds rained goodness on the soil of that land,
Clarified by lightning in brilliant flashes.

22. Encampments of beauty whose love
Remains protected - and many of our secrets are not divulged.

23. Familiar faces that wound hearts when they gaze softly,
Like well-honed swords made for slashing.

24. If those faces are veiled, you’d think
Suns are shining behind the covers.

25. Marvels of beauty - when we saw their perfection
We bestowed them with the most beautiful of our poems.

26. When we parted, fingers bid farewell covertly,
Moving swiftly like unsheathed daggers.

27. Eyes stayed awake late into the night because of separation,
Refraining from seeing passionate, amorous visions.

28. No news of them after they disappeared!
Did the racing camels bring their vessels across the arid land?

29. After they moved from the sands of Al-Ajal,
Heading sadly towards desolation and bare surfaces,

30. They walked gracefully through the expanse,
Avoiding pebbles and small dunes.

31. They were not harsh to the fifth one when she lagged behind,
Nor did they head towards the scintillating seas.

32. I was not justified in lacking anguish,
So I did not fail to remain distressed.

33. Messages from loved ones in every uncertain,
Far place are beyond reachable roads.

34. If only talks about them would arrive scented,
Nestling into listening faculties,

35. Comforting a heart that knows no rest without them -
Save pressing fingers against each other.

36. I am no longer accustomed to sleep except lightly,
With an eye weeping from intense yearning.

37. Those who came between us scared it away,
And caused separation between me and my bedstead.

38. Can what has passed of the previous connection return
As it was genuinely - or will it not return?

39. Who can intercede so his era may come back,
Since it will not revert without an intercessor?

40. If impassable obstacles have hindered meeting,
And days have been candid about preventing it,

41. I will surely journey, surviving only on dew,
With bare feet telling of traversing elevated planes,

42. To where they were, from very far lands,
With hands beckoning me towards the lowlands.

43. When the barefoot camel litter recognizes rejection,
It walks off like flash flood waters.