1. O you who mourn Su’di, support me,
On a burning liver and eyelids that never close in sleep,

2. And have mercy on a grieving soul, wounded at its core,
Who has become known for a wandering mind,

3. A specter of sorrow has befallen him,
Once firm in counsel and speech,

4. You came upon a heart scorched by afflictions,
And made it prostrate amidst burning sorrows,

5. And shed tears that never ceased flowing
Since the day of parting, fearing our love would fade,

6. My eyes, give freely what remains of my tears
In floods, like the running brooks,

7. For if you do not give freely, in my mind,
Sorrow’s burning will cut you off,

8. So they shed copious tears, as if their flowing
Was a torrent rushing down a smooth slope,

9. I cried until my tears ulcerated my eyes
And blood flowed down my sunken cheeks,

10. The drops then flowed like pearls
As bracelets on a fair white wrist,

11. Indeed my tears have become dear to my eyelids
When they diminish, the eyes say “increase!”

12. You see them standing still from excessive flowing
While I stand motionless like a statue,

13. I see the flowers of life with sickly eyes
Behind a veil of opaque glass,

14. O light of my eyes, you left
Did your travels turn from me intentionally?

15. You left with a heart in which you dwell
And left a body exposed to worries,

16. And emptied me of all the joys of life
While through you I was rich, with hands full,

17. I lost you like a thirsty man who loses his water skin,
And the Aramean said, in the middle of the desert,

18. If you are absent from the light of my eyes
You are thus always present in the light of my heart,

19. And if death demanded a ransom,
And would accept payment from one honorable,

20. I would give him half my life in haste,
And walk voluntarily into his hands,

21. And if he accepts the dark, withered ones
And the fair skinned, with palms like the moon,

22. I would give myself to the one always seeking
Eternal glory, through valorous deeds,

23. A knight who fears no death in the fray of battle,
Nor neglects war, even when bodies pile,

24. Who shatters the ranks of men with force,
Even if their battle line is made of rock,

25. And for one like Su’di, a man gives himself up
And enters the sanctuary of death without hesitation,

26. But this was the decree, which cannot be avoided
Except through patience or steely resolve,

27. If I had an obedient heart I would rebuke it
And walk the path of the wise and guided,

28. And obligate it to forget you, though it wants not
To follow my own inclination in any way,

29. I would keep living with a soul wandering in agony
While in a body visibly weak and confused,

30. But my heart disobeys, I command but it refuses,
I look away but it transgresses,

31. I will cry for you, Su’di, my life, and if I die,
My bones will cry for you in the grave.