1. أَلا يا سَلمَ قَد شَحَطَت نَواكِ

    فَلا وَصلٌ لِغانِيَةٍ سِواكِ

    Ah, Salm, the distance between us has grown great.

    So there is no union with any beauty but you,

  2. وَلا حُبٌّ لَدَيَّ وَلا تَصافٍ

    لِغَيرِكِ ما عَلا قَدَمي شِراكي

    Nor love within me, nor mutual affection

    For anyone but you, while my sandal-strap rests upon my foot.

  3. لَقَد ماطَلتِني يا حِبِّ عَصراً

    فَلَيتَ اللَهُ بِالحُبِّ اِبتَلاكِ

    You have long put me off, my beloved;

    If only God would afflict you with love,

  4. لِتَلقَي بَعدَ ما أَلقى وَوَجدي

    وَلا وَاللَهِ ما أَهوى رَداكِ

    So that afterward you might suffer what I suffer, and my anguish.

    Yet no—by God, I do not desire your ruin.

  5. وَلَكِن قَد مَنَحتُ هَوايَ صَفواً

    فَلَيتَ اللَهُ يَمنَحُني حَواكِ

    But I have bestowed my love in all its purity;

    If only God would grant me your love.

  6. وَلَيتَ العاذِلاتِ غَداةَ بِنتُم

    وَأَظهَرنَ المَلامَةَ لي فِداكِ

    And would that the women who reproached me the morning you all departed

    And made their blame plain to me were a ransom for you.

  7. وَلَيتَ مُخَبِّري بِالصَرمِ مِنكُم

    عَلانِيَةً نَعانِيَ إِذ نَعاكِ

    And would that the one who brought me news of your severance

    Had openly announced my death when he announced yours,

  8. فَأَتبَعَهُ لِكَي تُجزَينَ وُدّي

    وَما سَلمى تُجازيني بِذاكِ

    So I might follow him, that you might be rewarded with my love;

    But Salma does not repay me with that.