1. Preserving affection for a friend
In this life is rare

2. So I wonder at my heart how it
Fell for an unknown person

3. And if I compose poems for his image
My tears flow in the parchment

4. Yearning for him, if only my poetry
Could reach him in some way

5. There is a secret in this matter
That my soul has hidden from my weary mind

6. It is just that my soul
Recognized him from long ago

7. Days when I was and he was
A resident in the heavens

8. Oh my heart, you have tormented me
So turn towards beautiful patience

9. You reminded me of past love
And living in the shade of palm trees

10. Between the kindness of a well-mannered
Branch slipped from a noble origin

11. And a lover reciting poetry
Out of longing and affliction

12. Caressing our slender waists
And melting us with kohl-lined eyes

13. And Suhayl watching us
Like a jealous or uninvited guest

14. The river dreams, generation after generation
Of nourishing the land

15. Water seeping through crevices
Trickling like a little stream

16. Woe to me for that time but crying will not avail
If I found but little joy in life

17. I care for nothing in this world
Except the beautiful, compassionate face

18. And the sweetest person passes by
With the radiant, smooth cheek