1. You have not been absent from my thoughts or feelings,
My dear, neither yesterday nor today.

2. And how could I forget those whose mere mention
Wrings out my soul's excess?

3. To you, O Abd al-Malik, I belong entirely,
Your generosity being Kacb's, your dignity Quss's.

4. O you who descend from Hashim
With the status of the soul vis-à-vis the self,

5. Your reproach has set up a funeral for me
Where apology leads to celebration.

6. So look upon my excuse with eyes of consent
And undo with my excuse the knots of confusion.

7. For my aloofness from you springs from no disdain
That would make the free man shun intimacy.

8. Rather, overwhelmed by your bounty, my thanks
Fill my eyes, as the sun fills them.