لقد آن أن يشكو المتيم بعده

وماذا على من شفه البعد أن يشكو

Indeed, the time has come for the love-stricken one to lament his separation.

And what blame falls on one wasted by separation for lamenting?

ألوامهُ كفوا عن اللوم في الهوى

فقد بان ما أخفى الهوى وانجلى الشك

O his reproachers, cease reproaching him for love.

For what love concealed has become clear, and doubt has vanished.

تباكَوا على أهل الصبابة والأسى

إذا لم تطيقوا في المجالس أن تبكوا

Feign tears for the people of longing and sorrow,

If you cannot bring yourselves to weep in gatherings.

عذيرى في قوم بهم عرس النوى

ولا دمعة تهمى أفى نقلةٍ شك

Who will excuse me concerning a people among whom separation has encamped?

Yet not a tear flows—is departure in doubt?

أرى الوجد سلكا نظمهُ در أدمع

فلله من دربه حسن السلك

I see love's anguish as a thread strung with pearls of tears.

So praise be to God for the pearls that make the thread so fair!

فغسّل بماء الدمع أغيار ما مضى

وخلص بنار الحزن ما سبك إلا فك

So wash away with the water of tears the alien taints of the past,

And refine with sorrow's fire: smelting is nothing but release.

إذا مازج الدينار خبثٌ فإنما

يخلص ما فيه من الخبث السبك

If dross mingles with the dinar, it is only

Smelting that purges the dross within it.

ألا إنما الدنيا متاع لأهلها

فأولها حرص وآخرها ترك

Behold, this world is but enjoyment for its people.

For its beginning is craving, and its end is abandonment.

فجدوا ووالوا العزم في الأمر واحرصوا

فما هو إلا الملك حتما أو الهلك

So strive, sustain your resolve in the undertaking, and be diligent,

For it must be either dominion or destruction.

فطوبى لمن جادوا عليه تكرما

فذاك الذي يقضى له الخلد والملك

So blessed is the one they favored out of generosity;

For he is the one for whom immortality and dominion are decreed.