أتاني كتابٌ من شقيقى وَوَالدِى

فصارَ أُحَيْلى من طَرِيفى وَتَالِدِى

A letter came to me from my brother and father

So my joy exceeded that from my friends and comrades

ولما أتاني صارَ للهمِّ كاشِفاً

كَوَصْلِ حبيب من حبيب مُبَاعدِ

And when it came to me, it revealed my worries to Allah

Like the joining of a lover to a distant beloved

أقلِّبُه طَوراً وأطْويه تارةً

وأنشره أُخْرى بتلك المَشاهِد

I turn it over again and fold it at times

And unfold it again at those sights

فأصبحتُ ذَا شَوْقٍ شديد كأنني

أخو وَلَهٍ أشجاهُ ذكرُ المعاهِد

So I became full of intense longing as if I were

A loving brother stirred by the mention of covenants

أَيَا واحداً في هَجْرِه وجَفَائِه

أنا واجد في الشوق رفقا بواجد

Oh one who is alone in his estrangement and aloofness

I am sympathetic in longing to a sympathizer

وَعِندي مِن الشوقِ المبرّح مَا نفَى

رُقَاد جُفوني عن لذيذ المراقد

And I have from burning longing what has denied

Slumber to my eyelids from the sweet sleeping places

ولو أَلُف خطٍّ ما تسلَّت قلوبنا

بها ليس تُسْلِينَا سُطورُ الكواغد

And if a thousand lines would not give pleasure to our hearts

With them, lines on paper would not console us

ولو أنَّ دونَ الوَصْل قطع فَدَافِدٍ

قطعنا بتدآب شِدَاد الفَدَافِد

And if before union there were impassable ravines

We would cross, creeping through the impassable ravines