1. How is the patient, what has befallen him
How did he spend the night, I wonder, and in what state

2. Indeed, at your question, my heart
Stands still today, losing all hope

3. What good is grieving, O my soul's sister
It is my fate, no doubt

4. Every night I see the image of my grave
And see death making preparations inside it

5. I used to rationalize to myself, but
The sickness of the chest leaves no room for rationalizations

6. Obliterate the memories of yesterday, it's better
That no yesterday remains remembered

7. Obliterate them for the sake of my soul and my love
Obliterate them, for memories are but misguidance

8. And know that tears shed over one who lies
Beneath the soil hurt his spirit

9. I read it and held back the tears
That had they poured into the Nile, they would have disturbed its serenity

10. Tears of a melting, agonized heart
That had they poured over the desert, they would have soaked its sands

11. I held them back from the letter
So tears would not dishonor that letter

12. It was as if the darkness was an ailing man
Coughing in the groves among the palm trees

13. And if a shudder passed over it
Its wings folded, and the night wrapped it in shadow

14. Dawn came wanly over waves
As if the coughing had preoccupied it