1. Tell of my passion with memories of that house,
And recall conversations from days of old.

2. Forgive me if tears flow ahead of me -
Unsettled am I, and longing has gripped my being.

3. A time when I left behind the carefree days of youth
And forsook the sweetness of my delight and love poems -

4. Days when dreams served us full of joy,
And the lover frolicked freely in open spaces.

5. He raced on the back of a lively steed, and how often
Was he brightly dressed in the neighborhood!

6. With a band who took frivolity as their creed,
avoiding the way of the pretentious.

7. They passed goblets around, some sighed with longing,
Others shook with memories of past trysts.

8. Their singer enchants - you’d think his words
Were magic and his goblet an obvious sorcerer.

9. As if the esteemed Salim were dictating a poem
While the people sat rapt between praiser and glorifier.

10. Meanings subtle as sleep described precisely, as if
Strands of pearls threaded skillfully together.

11. When my companion waxes eloquent, I think
He's reciting to me messages from afar.

12. When he flows over obstacles, I watch him
Like flashes of lightening through pouring rain.

13. The spark of ideas, if exposed in the night,
Would outshine the glow of any torch.

14. A heart of old carried by one with the freshness
Of supple youth, like the edge of a sharp blade.

15. And many a gentle visitor revived me
When her soft fingers grazed my own.

16. A beauty who lifted her veil as she passed by,
Leaving traces of sweet perfume behind.

17. She followed the tracks of her beloved, and often
The northern breeze carried those signs to me.

18. A slender darling I met being helped
By her ailing lover, bent over his cane.

19. I glanced at her after tears welled up in me
Like messages sent, wave after wave.

20. She complained of our separation - it reopened
A wound in me, leaving us both distraught.

21. O you who shunned me, though your phantom
Still wanders unresting in the folds of my heart!

22. Between us is a pact of affection
That cuts through the darkest gloom.

23. Though oceans lie between our homes, not one drop
Has entered the space between our hearts.

24. I pledged my passion though I have no rights to you,
Unable to break this improper bequest.

25. I forgave myself for loving you
For you led me to the sweetest spring.

26. And I who embraced love and spread it
Where it was safe from all blame -

27. You asked what has passed of our days gone by
And what the future days might bring.

28. God is Greatest! All things fall under His glory.
Every state has an ordained, unrelenting end.

29. The most precious thing I encountered one day of joy -
And God knows what will come after that!