1. He breathed with yearning that took hold in his heart
And concealed in his innermost the place of secret

2. So he slumbered on what his ribs contained
As the smoke betrayer slumbers on embers

3. Yearning with love for Alwa caused him agony
Like the agony of a bereft mother for her dutiful son

4. Would a doe cease longing in a meadow
With corners blooming with green blossoms?

5. When the south wind sways its branches
Clouds sprinkle it with drops of rain

6. And if her hand brushes it in passing
You see its beautiful light smile

7. Parting from it constricts her udder
And meeting it ensures milk from him

8. She would ransom it with her precious soul
And lick it clean even from a glancing look

9. She fears for it though calamities abound
From imagined harm in places of danger

10. She went from it to seek for it a meadow
With gardens and valleys and hidden pools

11. But she heard only its groaning call
As destiny brought it to her as ordained

12. In the grip of a muscular armed lion
Who ripped its shoulders, compressed its chest

13. Quick when antelope gathered to flee
Swift when they gathered while he lurked

14. Shining like a scribe's leaf
Polished flowing script dotted with ink

15. She saw it from afar as he shredded its flank
With ripping fangs and claws that tore

16. More painful than the day her burdens departed
Lowering in the valley and rising on the hill

17. Leaving the sandy hills behind
Abandoning the banners of Du'aymi

18. With white domes below which are black tents
Fragmenting the continuity of the desert sands

19. Gleaming like the forts of sailing ships
Sailing the surging seas and waves

20. Oh you who blame me for her, persist in love
For blame in her makes one fall deeper in love

21. I tried my best to abstain from passion for her but could not
Though a man should spare no effort to excuse himself

22. I was given to drink a cup of bitter patience
And how could its taste be pure with patience mixed in?

23. Had I patience the morning they departed
My tears would not have reddened as they flowed

24. May God water you, Alwa, with clouds
Drawn gently and pulled with blessing

25. Stop and look at me with kind eyes
Seeing a specter lonely and suffering manifest

26. When the winds blow towards your lands
They could carry along his body wherever they go

27. Send them my greetings for they will convey
My passions in the tongues of mortals

28. I used to be deceived by yearning though yearning cheats
Trying to cool the fires in my heart with the winds' chill

29. But when they blew they stoked the flames of love
For spirit runs through winds and kindles them

30. My eyes, I had warned my heart against you
But my heart paid no heed to censure or command

31. So I bound it with passion while you went free
Of its causes, though it remained imprisoned

32. It obeyed you when it disobeyed me for a time
Just as the cunning thief tricks the naive

33. Does it suit the knowledgeable man of gray hair
To stand at a quarter and yearn for a tent?

34. I will strive to rid my heart of passion
Sacrificing my mind to achieve this goal

35. And I will tell it passion is an affliction
Especially for the wise and the honored

36. And I will restrain it in God by force though
Obedience of the compelled begins by force

37. Oh heart if you obey me in His path
You will be guided and honored at the Gathering

38. I will leave what no soul leaves behind
Of wealth, children, family and in-laws

39. And I will abandon a kingdom without permanence
For never ending rule in the afterlife

40. And I will mount the raft of patience for the sake of contentment
With provision of piety and guidance of remembrance

41. I will traverse its oceans with my resolve that has
Surpassed the celestial bodies in loftiness

42. Oceans where the islands have no shore
And the Euphrates has no high tide

43. Oceans of sand dunes and riding without need for
Camel litters, packed luggage or blond camels

44. I will traverse them with my determination