عزيز علي اليوم قطع كتابكم

ولكنه لم يلف للود قاطع

My dear, today your letter has broken off

It weighs heavily on me today to tear up your letter,

Yet he did not turn with severing affection

yet it was never meant to sever our affection.

فآثرت ان يبقى وداد وينمحي

مداد فإن الفرع للأصل تابع

So I preferred that affection remains and ink fades

So I chose that love should endure while ink is erased,

For the branch follows the root

for the branch must always follow the root.

فكم من كتاب فيه ميتة ربه

ولم يدره إذ نمقته الأصابع

How many a book in which is the death of its Lord

How often a letter brings the demise of its writer,

And he knew not when fingers have copied it

unbeknownst to him as his fingers adorned it.