1. The breeze blows, urging the companions to depart,
So rise, for the beloved caravan is leaving.

2. Tomorrow they will mount the steeds at dawn,
Will you have the patience to stay behind?

3. Do you hope to remain while the beloved departs, bidding you farewell?
Will you be content to quench the lovers' thirst with mere greetings?

4. While you remain as fate has deemed, calling out:
Am I deaf, or are you, though you called to me?

5. You say, yet do not set forth to join them,
Though your homeland beckons you.

6. No bond remains save traveling the desert towards them,
Perhaps the specter of a bond remains.

7. Leave all else save tears once they depart,
Mayhap tears will avail you something.

8. I despair though weeping avails me naught,
Too late, though my intent was to go early.

9. I show the torment that has wasted my body,
Hoping you will relieve my fever's heat.

10. Naught remains for me but lingering passion
I live out my youth and grow old with it.

11. I hope that passion has not faded, so that
I see them again, should fortune favor me.

12. How often at night I said to the companions who thought
To rouse me: "Ready the mounts if you wish to depart!"

13. Death's cavalry, if you are resolved to travel,
Take a glance at me and head for the homeland.

14. Say: "We saw among the throng of the living, one dead,
A martyr, his eyelids brimming with blood."

15. Stay silent until the caravan passes him by,
Then show your passion, o effusive one!

16. Cling to your guide though he spurns you,
How many fair judges have done wrong!

17. No harm had he escorted him, though his passion
Impelled him wherever it willed.

18. It would have sustained him when fires of longing burned,
Or when tears for them served in place of water.

19. When lightning flashed, their eyes met it
With more abundant tears welling forth.

20. They imagined it the fire of parting at the campsite,
Or a smiling moonlit visage.

21. No wonder the lover sees the forms
Of the one he adores in his fantasies.

22. Blessed the travel of the caravan, for it found
Guideposts where the paths diverged.

23. The riders dismounted and rested awhile
At dawn, their faces in the dust out of reverence.

24. The camp appeared amid the darkness before dawn,
None could discern the tents from the gloom.

25. Those pavilions came into view, and there appeared
The lights of guidance for one who hoped.

26. He witnessed the sublime sights and dwellings,
Steps where Gabriel the Trustworthy ascended to heaven.

27. The mosque came into view, the palm trees, and facing him
Were radiant faces, even when veiled.

28. A courteous host, as befits good neighbors,
And great is their due from one who submits to God.

29. There you find the garden of Paradise,
Where one who knows it inhales its fragrance.

30. Should his eyes glimpse behind its veils
The chamber of the Guide, he is secured from blindness.

31. Let his sobs speak of his burning longing
When he cannot give voice to his passion.

32. Who, were it not for God's tranquility enveloping him,
Could find the strength to breathe?

33. He sees the minbar of the Guide and his tomb,
Both thronged, as revelation descends.

34. Ships sailing with resolve towards Him,
Approach, but does His noble precinct allow it?

35. Alas, the distance spans far, and I have no means.
I fear to die in sorrow and deprivation!

36. Neighbors of the Prophet's tomb, have you heard
That my heart broke when I folded my tent?

37. I left against my will, obediently, and abandoned it.
No wonder I am filled with regret!

38. Neighbors of the Prophet's tomb, you are the sea
To whom the afflicted swimmer comes.

39. Ask God, by the Prophet's tomb, to grant me
Good fortune at the tomb, and favor me!

40. Find me at the mosque, and whenever
I bid peace, return my greeting in kind!

41. Kiss the stirrups of the mount, and whoever
Has been scented with the camphor of the beloved's abode.

42. Recite to that land verses of longing and resolve,
Calling me to travel wherever you wish.

43. For this longing has always consumed the passionate lover,
Seeing his life in separation as ruined.

44. And say, facing the Prophet: "O our intercessor!
Your servants plead to be brought forward."

45. When the passionate lover desires closeness to his beloved,
His longing casts him farther from his goal.

46. I place my trust in the one who embraced the tomb
And swore by every prophet to his Lord.

47. My longing for his tomb and environs increases,
Though I do not draw near them.

48. After this distance, I strive towards the tombs
And sleep in the palm trees' shade, anxious,

49. Wandering in those gardens, saying:
"Sleep, my eyes, for long have you been wakeful."

50. May God guard the days spent at the campsite
And the noble life with friends there.

51. Nights I spent between the chamber of Ahmed
And his minbar, living out my youth.

52. A heavenly breeze blew, assuring me
That I am a neighbor of the campsite's dweller.

53. I accompanied people who resided with him,
Becoming by his company the best of people.

54. Then return me to the Prophet and incline
That they may mention me generously.

55. If I am not deserving of that, then my humility
Can intercede for me as a supplicant.

56. Perhaps the hour will come when acceptance reaches me,
Their prayer granting me sanctity.

57. I am not in despair, though long absent,
For God may unite the two estranged.

58. Upon him, God's peace, as long as the breeze blows
And the stars of night follow the stars.