هَذا كِتابُ فَتىً لِغَيبِكِ حافِظٍ

كَلِفٍ بِذِكرِكِ يا ظُلَيمَةُ مُدنَفِ

This is the book of a young man who preserves your absence,

Burdened with remembering you, O Zulaima of refinement.

إِن غِبتِ آنَسَ طَرفَهُ بِدُموعِهِ

وَإِذا أَصابَكِ طَرفُهُ لَم يَطرِفِ

If you are absent, his eyes find comfort in his tears,

And if his eyes catch sight of you, they do not glance away.

أَصبَحتِ شُغلَ لِسانِهِ وَفُؤادِهِ

وَجُفونِهِ بِالساجِمِ المُتَوَكِّفِ

You have become the preoccupation of his tongue, heart,

And eyelids with persistent, halted lamentation.

نَدِمَ المُحِبُّ عَلى المُقامِ فَلَم يَزَل

مُذ غِبتِ بَينَ تَنَدُّمٍ وَتَلَهُّفِ

The lover regrets staying behind, and has not stopped

Since you left, between regret and gasping longing.

فَوَدِدتُ أَنّي إِذ تَخَلَّفَ لَم أَسِر

أَولَيتَهُ إِذ سِرتُ لَم يَتَخَلَّفِ

I wish that when I remained behind, I had not traveled,

Or when I traveled, that he had not stayed behind.