أَغيبُ عَنكَ بِوُدٍّ لا يُغَيِّرُهُ

نَأيُ المَحَلِّ وَلا صَرفٌ مِنَ الزَمَنِ

I am absent from you, bearing a love that does not change—

not through distance of place, nor any turn of time.

فَإِن أَعِش فَلَعَلَّ الدَهرَ يَجمَعُنا

وَإِن أَمُت فَبِطولِ الشَوقِ وَالحَزَنِ

If I live, perhaps Time will reunite us;

and if I die, it will be from prolonged longing and sorrow.

تَعتَلُّ بِالشُغلِ عَنّا ما تُلِمُّ بِنا

الشُغلُ لِلقَلبِ لَيسَ الشُغلُ لِلبَدَنِ

You plead busyness as an excuse for staying away, never visiting us;

it is the heart that is occupied, not the body.

قَد حَسَّنَ اللَهُ في عَينَيَّ ما صَنَعَت

حَتّى أَرى حَسَناً مالَيسَ بِالحَسَنِ

God has made beautiful in my eyes whatever you have done,

until I see as beautiful what is not beautiful.