أقول ولي قلب يفيض من الوجد

غراما وأحشاء تذوب من الصد

I speak, with a heart overflowing from love's anguish,

with passion, and innards melting from rejection.

ألا يا أهيل الحي والعلم الفرد

ترى هل علمتم ما لقيت من البعد

Ah, O dear folk of the encampment and the solitary landmark,

I wonder, do you know what I have suffered from distance?

لقد جل ما اخفيه منه وما ابدي

احبايَ هل منكم لعينيَ نظرةٌ

Great indeed is what I conceal of it and what I reveal.

My beloveds, is there a glance from you for my eye,

لتطفي بها نار وتبرد غلة

في اربعٌ لم تستطعهن مهجة

to quench a fire with it and cool a burning thirst?

Within me are four afflictions no soul could bear:

فراق ووجد واشتياق ووحشة

تعددت البلوى على واحد فرد

separation, love's anguish, yearning, and loneliness.

Afflictions have multiplied upon one solitary soul.

فلم انس انسي بالحديث وعتبكم

واطيب اويقات تقضت بحبكم

And I have not forgotten my delight in conversation and your reproaches,

and the sweetest brief moments spent loving you,

ومحضر عيش بالحمى قد زها بكم

رعى الله اباما مضت لي بقربكم

and the gathering in the sanctuary, where life grew radiant with you.

May God bless the days that passed for me near you,

كأني بها قد كنت في جنة الخلد

لقد كنت قبل اليوم بالبين هازلا

as though during them I had been in the Garden of Eternity.

Before today, I had indeed made light of separation,

وبالحب مشغوف الفؤاد وذا هلا

فبادرني بالبين دهريَ عاجلا

and my heart was enthralled by love, and heedless.

Then my fate swiftly confronted me with separation.

هبوني امرأ قد كنت بالبين جاهلا

اما كان فيكم من هداني إلى الرشد

Suppose I had been a man ignorant of separation—

was there no one among you to guide me to sound judgment?

علام صدود كل يوم وجفوة

ولا حرمة ترعى لنا ومودة

Why this daily rejection and coldness,

with neither regard nor affection preserved for us?

وعهدي ولي فيكم وفاء وذمة

وكنت لكم عبد وللعبد حرمة

Yet I recall having faithfulness and a covenant among you.

And I was your slave, and a slave is owed respect;

فما بالكم ضيعتم حرمة العبد

بعثت لكم كتبي فعز إيابها

why, then, have you neglected the slave's right to respect?

I sent you my letters, but their return proved elusive.

وهامت بكم روحي فزاد عذابها

فما بالها قد ضاع فيكم حسابها

And my soul was madly in love with you, so its torment grew.

Why, then, does it no longer count for anything among you?

وما بال كتبي لا يرد جوابها

فهل اكرمت ان لا تقابل بالرد

And why is no answer returned to my letters?

Were they honored, then, by not being met with rejection?

اطلتم غداة البعر في الحب بيننا

وملتم الى قطع الرسائل دوننا

You prolonged our parting in love on the morning of [separation];

and you turned toward cutting us off from letters,

وقلتم قضيتم في المحبة ديننا

فاين حلاوات الرسائل بيننا

and you said you had settled our debt in love.

Where, then, are the sweet delights of the letters between us,

واين امارات المحبة والود

اتيتكُم ارجو لديكم مثوبة

and where are the signs of love and affection?

I came to you, hoping for a reward from you,

فعذبتُم روحي وكانت طروبة

وزدتم عذابي بالصدود صعوبة

but you tormented my soul, which had been joyful.

And you made my torment harsher through rejection,

ومالي ذنب يستحق عقوبة

ويا ليتها كانت بشيء سوى الصد

though I have no sin deserving punishment.

Oh, if only that punishment had been anything but rejection!

يلوم عليكم عاذلي بجهالة

وما انا من يسلو لطول ملالة

My reproacher ignorantly chides me over you,

and I am not one to forget love through prolonged weariness,

ولا يرتضي بعد الهوى بعلالة

واني لارعاكم على كل حالة

nor to be content, after passion, with a paltry consolation.

And I surely cherish you in every circumstance;

وحقكُم انتم اعز الورى عندي

رسولكم وافي فحيا عليكم

by your honor, you are the dearest of all people to me.

Your messenger arrived—salutations to you!

وبشرني اني اكون نزيلكم

فقبلت فاه كي اكافي جميلكم

And he brought me glad tidings that I would be your guest.

So I kissed his mouth to repay your kindness.

ويا ليت عندي كل يوم رسولكم

فاسكنه عيني وافرشه خدي

Oh, would that your messenger were with me every day,

so I could lodge him in my eye and spread my cheek as his bed.

الا يا عربيا يمموا الخيف من منى

ودونهمُ طعن الاسنة والقنا

Ah, O Arab folk who headed for al-Khayf in Mina,

with the thrusts of spearheads and lances barring the way to them,

وبعدهم قد حال في الدهر دوننا

عليكم سلام الله والبعد بيننا

and their remoteness has stood in our way through time.

God's peace be upon you, with distance between us,

وبالرغم مني ان اسلم مني بعد

and it is against my will that I greet you [from] afar.