1. The lightning appeared longing, so its swords
Stabbed at the yearning heart and it bled.

2. I smiled, so my sunsets of tears poured down,
And by the rule of separation I weep while it laughs.

3. O my ribs, passionately, why these tears of mine?
And O my tears, pouring, what makes you hold back?

4. Are you anything but burning embers
And tears from a tormented heart that pours?

5. From that horizon came a dark gloom
That matches my emaciated body and accompanies me.

6. It drags behind it a moist tail
With which I seek comfort and hold fast.

7. For me then, a thousand sorrows turned away
And I saw no path to patience on my face.

8. To you from the weary eyelid a warning—
Beware its edges’ deadly white glare.

9. My days have fired at me every sharp arrow
Stretching their bows taut toward my sunset.

10. So they readied my insides for the striking of their arrows
And I said, “Shoot! For I fear no separation from you.”

11. I have not seen more painful wounds than eyelids
Nor separation dealt a closer blow than death.

12. My days have afflicted me with every tribulation—
None so pernicious as our parting ways.

13. I looked, and by God, my gaze did not fall
Upon one so vile made arrogant by wealth.

14. I have not seen heat conceal its lack
Bearing it while time refuses and strips it bare.

15. There is no garment like contentment to cover
Just as asceticism is adorned by nothing but detachment.

16. Be patient, doubt not that the foreordained will come to pass,
Your Lord suffices, though the skeptic doubts.

17. Not all the desires of the content escape him
Nor are all the hopes of the greedy attained.

18. How often intimacy with a beloved companion
Is revived by blame and harsh words that wear him down.

19. I kept his company until my patience grew frail with burden—
Then I shook my hand free of him, shunning the counterfeit.

20. The critic says I have shunned him in thought—
But it is without my knowledge that rejection and slander spread.

21. Poetry of pearls has strands not only of tears
That exude or a heart that is molded and fused.

22. It gives relief to the temper of the free
And sings of the span of life like a temple gong.

23. I have touched by it the epoch’s lute, but it would not bend.
I have disputed with my days, but they will not erase or destroy.