1. أتاني كتابٌ من شقيقى وَوَالدِى

    فصارَ أُحَيْلى من طَرِيفى وَتَالِدِى

    A letter came to me from my brother and my father,

    so it became dearer than my newly acquired and inherited wealth.

  2. ولما أتاني صارَ للهمِّ كاشِفاً

    كَوَصْلِ حبيب من حبيب مُبَاعدِ

    And when it reached me, it dispelled sorrow,

    like affection reaching one beloved from another far away.

  3. أقلِّبُه طَوراً وأطْويه تارةً

    وأنشره أُخْرى بتلك المَشاهِد

    At times I turn it over, at times I fold it,

    and at other times unfold it amid those scenes.

  4. فأصبحتُ ذَا شَوْقٍ شديد كأنني

    أخو وَلَهٍ أشجاهُ ذكرُ المعاهِد

    So I became filled with intense longing, as though I were

    one distraught with love, saddened by memories of familiar haunts.

  5. أَيَا واحداً في هَجْرِه وجَفَائِه

    أنا واجد في الشوق رفقا بواجد

    O you, unmatched in your abandonment and coldness,

    I am stricken with longing; be gentle with one so stricken.

  6. وَعِندي مِن الشوقِ المبرّح مَا نفَى

    رُقَاد جُفوني عن لذيذ المراقد

    Within me is such agonizing longing that it has robbed

    my eyelids of sleep in delightful beds.

  7. ولو أَلُف خطٍّ ما تسلَّت قلوبنا

    بها ليس تُسْلِينَا سُطورُ الكواغد

    Even if there were a thousand written lines, our hearts would find no comfort

    in them; lines on sheets of paper do not console us.

  8. ولو أنَّ دونَ الوَصْل قطع فَدَافِدٍ

    قطعنا بتدآب شِدَاد الفَدَافِد

    And even if reunion lay beyond a crossing of barren wastes,

    we would traverse the harsh wastes with tireless effort.