لو قيل لي من قبل ذا

أن سوف تسلو من تود

Had I been told before that day

Had it been said to me before this day,

That you would grant peace to those you avoid

“You shall surely forget the one you love,”

لحلفت ألف قسامةٍ

لا كان ذا أبد الأبد

I would have sworn a thousand oaths

I would have sworn a thousand solemn oaths:

That this could never be

“Never shall this be, for all eternity.”

وإذا طويل الهجر ما

معه من السلوان بد

And if after long estrangement

Yet when estrangement stretches long and deep,

There's no comfort to be found

Solace becomes an unavoidable fate.

للَه هجرك إنه

ساعٍ لبرئي مجتهد

Then estrange yourself, for it

By God, what a marvel is your abandonment—

Drives the ardent lover onward

A diligent healer, striving for my cure.

فالأن أعجب للسل

و وكنت أعجب للجلد

Now I see the joy in reconciliation

So now I marvel at this quiet solace,

When once I saw the merit of endurance

Whereas before, I marveled at my endurance,

وأرى هواك كجمرةٍ

تحت الرماد لها مدد

And I see your love is like embers

Yet I still see your love as a live ember,

Under ashes, with sustenance

Smoldering with sustained fuel beneath the ashes.