1. The kinship between my heart and the zigzagging lightning,
Both aflame with the fires of passion.

2. My heart for what eludes it of the beauty of the beloved,
And lightning for what escapes it of rain.

3. The full moon was envious of the rising moons,
When it appeared at night adorned with its lights.

4. Swaying gracefully when leaning on a soft cheek,
The branches and shrubs praised its stature.

5. It decreed upon the lovers that it alone
Could capture the hearts enthralled by its love.

6. My eyes grew tender when its beauty grew tender,
And passion and ecstasy grew tender within its love.

7. So the eyelids slept outlined in kohl,
While the tears flowed tinted in the morn.

8. A gazelle protected by its beauty,
From those who hope and the dark night and brambles.

9. But it never grazed in love for me loyally,
While how many loyalties I grazed in its abode, O Arabs!

10. Had its dwelling not been in the Eastern sanctuary,
Love and joy for it would not have shook me so.

11. The quarters of life still honor their pact,
With clouds trailing their fringes about them.

12. A pact I attained the utmost of my hopes in,
And nothing outside of it can please me anymore.

13. The branch of my youth still fresh and verdant,
Yet life is still green and the clothes of youth ragged.

14. I yearn for every full moon ringed by the horizon,
And every sun veiled in its resplendence.

15. I entrust our gazelles to the One of Peace -
The causes of separation and departure appeared through them.

16. I complained of the tyranny of distance after them, and complained -
When I did not know what complaining or blaming was before.

17. O you who carried away my heart while residing in it,
And settled in my ribs while they trembled!

18. You severed the cord of loyalty without cause,
Then is there a way back to union after disloyalty?

19. As for the souls, they have melted in sorrow over you,
Pouring from the springs of tears.

20. So if you deprive what life you left me,
You give me life, and yours are the spoils and the taking.

21. And if you decide to finish off an extinguished wick,
Know it is sacrificed in the way of God.