Woh meri cheen-e-jabeen se gham-e-pinhan samjha

My brow's deep lines revealed my secret, hidden pain, I thought. A tangled title made the letter's meaning plain, I thought.

My soul's mirror, polished by this constant, tearing pain, I thought. Yet all my grief has left on it is but a single strain, I thought.

Don't ask the reasons why my heart is held in such a chain, I thought. It grew so narrow in my chest, it was a cell of pain, I thought.

My own mistrust would not allow her grace to be made plain, I thought. Each bead of sweat upon her cheek, an eye that watched with disdain, I thought.

My weakness proved her nature was to cause me endless pain, I thought. From a straw's faint pulse, I felt a fire's scorching, brutal strain, I thought.

My weakness on love's journey made me seek relief in vain, I thought. My own dark shadow was a room where I could rest again, I thought.

My heart, until its death, fled from her eyelash-arrow's rain, I thought. Deflecting the sharp point of destiny was not in vain, I thought.

Why give your heart, Asad, believing she would not disdain? I thought. My great mistake: the faithless one was in my faith's domain, I thought.

In this world's wild and lonely hall, my life would wax and wane, I thought. And like a candle, love's own flame was all I could sustain, I thought.