أتاني كتابٌ من شقيقى وَوَالدِى

فصارَ أُحَيْلى من طَرِيفى وَتَالِدِى

A letter came to me from my brother and father

So my longing was renewed from its languor and lethargy

ولما أتاني صارَ للهمِّ كاشِفاً

كَوَصْلِ حبيب من حبيب مُبَاعدِ

And when it came to me, it revealed my worries

Like the joining of a lover with a distant beloved

أقلِّبُه طَوراً وأطْويه تارةً

وأنشره أُخْرى بتلك المَشاهِد

I turn it over and fold it at times

And unfold it again to view those scenes

فأصبحتُ ذَا شَوْقٍ شديد كأنني

أخو وَلَهٍ أشجاهُ ذكرُ المعاهِد

So I became full of intense longing as if I were

A lovesick brother stirred by the mention of past unions

أَيَا واحداً في هَجْرِه وجَفَائِه

أنا واجد في الشوق رفقا بواجد

Oh how in his estrangement and aloofness

I find sympathy for one pained like myself

وَعِندي مِن الشوقِ المبرّح مَا نفَى

رُقَاد جُفوني عن لذيذ المراقد

And I have from fervent longing what dispelled

The sleep from my blissful, tranquil eyes

ولو أَلُف خطٍّ ما تسلَّت قلوبنا

بها ليس تُسْلِينَا سُطورُ الكواغد

If a thousand lines, our hearts would not be solaced

By them, these rows of paper do not comfort us

ولو أنَّ دونَ الوَصْل قطع فَدَافِدٍ

قطعنا بتدآب شِدَاد الفَدَافِد

If between reunion were swaths of distance

We would traverse them, braving the far stretches