1. كفاك تجفو مطيلا

    عليّ هجراً طويلا

    Enough of your prolonged coldness,

    your long abandonment of me.

  2. فالقلب ذاب التهاباً

    والجسم أضحى نحيلا

    For the heart has melted with burning passion,

    and the body has grown thin.

  3. جر عتني كاس بُعد

    قد رحت منه ثمولا

    You made me drink a cup of separation;

    I have come away drunk from it.

  4. إني لخلٌّ وفيٌّ

    لم يلق مثلي خليلا

    I am indeed a faithful friend;

    no one has met a friend like me.

  5. كما سلو فوادي

    لكم غدا مستحيلا

    Likewise, my heart's forgetting

    you has become impossible.

  6. والصبرُ عنكمُ أمسي

    لدىّ في الوهم غولا

    And patience away from you has become

    a ghoul to me in my imagination.

  7. كم همت شوقاً اليكم

    وبت ابغي الحصولا

    How often I wandered, longing for you,

    and spent the night seeking fulfillment.

  8. فخانني سوء حظي

    وابعد المامولا

    But my ill fortune betrayed me

    and drove what I hoped for far away.

  9. وجرّد البين سيفاً

    من الجفا مسلولا

    And separation unsheathed a sword,

    drawn from estrangement,

  10. ليقضي الله أمراً

    مقدرّا مفعولا

    that God might bring to pass a matter

    foreordained and to be fulfilled.

  11. وصفو عيشك لو لم

    ترى عيوني الرسولا

    By the serenity of your life, had not

    my eyes beheld the messenger,

  12. واسطراً منه اروت

    تعطشي والغليلا

    and lines from him that quenched

    my thirst and burning longing,

  13. بتّ من صارم الوج

    ود والهيام قتيلا

    I would have lain, by the sword of existence

    and passionate love, slain.

  14. وسيمّا حين أهدت

    اليَّ عقداً جميلا

    And especially when she offered

    me a beautiful necklace,

  15. قد صيغ من نظمو مولىً

    معناه يسبي العقولا

    which had been fashioned from a master's verse,

    whose meaning captivates minds.

  16. في وصفه العرب عجمٌ

    والترك أضحى ذهولا

    In describing him, the Arabs are tongue-tied,

    and al-Turk was left bewildered.

  17. فبات بالحمد يثني

    عنه وينشي نقولا

    So he spent the night offering praise

    of him and composing verse—Nicola,

  18. يذيع آداب ندبٍ

    بالعلم حاز الوصولا

    proclaiming the literary accomplishments of a noble man

    who, through knowledge, attained his goal.

  19. عبدٌ إلى الله حُرٌّ

    سما مقاماً جليلا

    A servant unto God, a free man,

    he rose to an exalted station.

  20. سواه من يدعي الف

    ضل ذاك يدعى فضولا

    Whoever else lays claim to excellence—

    that one is called a meddler.

  21. يا صاحبي انشداه

    وبلغاه المقولا

    O my two companions, recite it to him,

    and convey to him what has been said.

  22. واتحفاه دعاءً

    متمما مستطيلا

    And present him with a prayer,

    complete and prolonged.

  23. ووقراه احتراماً

    وناشداهُ وقولا

    And honor him with reverence,

    and entreat him, and say:

  24. لك البقا دم سليما

    ونل فخاراً اثيلا

    May you live on; remain safe and sound,

    and attain deep-rooted glory.

  25. وارحم فتى فيك يشدو

    كفاك تجفو مطيلا

    And have mercy on a youth who sings of you:

    Enough of your prolonged coldness!