1. He painted her image from memory and chained it in his eyes,
A maiden whose eyelids brimmed with bashfulness.

2. As though the sun had granted her its brilliance
And woven her hair into threads of light.

3. Death's hand struck during her birth,
Her mother and father died, killing themselves.

4. In a small Parisian village she was raised,
Young, but with worries beyond her years.

5. The soul loves the homeland of its people,
Not the pit that contains them.

6. And earth seems grand through your eyes,
Not diminished or scorned.

7. So she left it, leaving no trace of herself
Nor any mark on its people.

8. To the city whose beauty captivates the world,
And whose handsome people captivate mankind.

9. To the city where opposites converge,
And safety guards its corners from harm.

10. The pious sees it as Eden,
The wretched sees it as Hell.

11. The morning sun wishes it were its orbit,
And the horizon its rising moon.

12. The West wishes it were its pulpits’ wood,
The East its walls' stone.

13. In every heart is a passion for it, as though
Each has a loved one or land there.

14. Paris, wonder of the world and its heaven,
Muse of beauty, sought and invented.

15. She arrived and did not reject its ornaments,
For long she had seen its likes in pictures.

16. Nor the nature of its people and their clothes,
For long she had read the chronicles of their ways.

17. But she rejected only her uniqueness on earth,
As a bird rejects the nest when it flees.

18. An orphan with no mother to seek refuge in,
No father to call when danger nears.

19. Stranger, whom misery follows wherever she walked,
None prosper in Paris if impoverished.

20. Nights passed as she was busy
With present worries, not past cares,

21. Until necessity's hammer struck her,
And she went out to earn her living, alone or in a group.

22. She harvests rosebuds, and those who give her roses
Harvest verse-strings and scattered petals from her hands.

23. She fears not God as she holds them,
But guards against looking above the cheeks.

24. She is jealous even of spirits passing by,
If a glance should meet hers, it would turn away embarrassed.

25. She humiliates the roses' seller, and yellows his roses,
So as to preserve the freshness of her own cheek.

26. She protects it from every debauched flirting glance,
If only she could protect it from thoughts and ideas as well!

27. She laughs at people, neither boastful nor playful,
And denies poverty, neither arrogant nor wicked.

28. When alone, memories of past passions overwhelm her,
And draw tears she had stored for such times.

29. I became infatuated like a branch to a sapling,
Sweet of tongue, bright of face, flowering in youth.

30. Passionate for her, the sun shows her its hiding,
And dawn its strings of pearls in her mouth.

31. When he draws near she hopes he will not leave her,
And when he is away she yearns for him to be mentioned.

32. She overcomes her fervor when he is present,
And abandons sleep when he is absent.

33. She used to fear passion when it did not stir within her,
But now she fears even the caution within passion.

34. She exposed herself to love confused,
And so passion, mighty and empowered, took advantage of her.

35. Love is like a thief - you know not its hour -
But rarely is it like the hidden thief.

36. One summer night, moonlit,
When eyes do not tire of the blossoming stars.

37. They met and he confided his longing to her, so she shook,
Then he continued and she remained as if spellbound.

38. He complained and so stirred her emotions,
As the musician's hand stirs the strings.

39. Until each limb wished it could be
A hearing or a seeing organ.

40. The two passionate youths embraced,
Unable to resist or desist.

41. What happened next I will not relate,
The allusion suffices for the prudent.

42. She became infatuated but did not know,
That she had fallen for a scoundrel.

43. She saw him as a fledgling and drew him near,
A lamb so she took him in, but he was a tiger.

44. He continued to seduce her, disregarding
Those who blamed her, but when she believed he blasphemed.

45. He took advantage of her, as if she had
Committed an unforgivable sin.

46. She had seen a mole on his cheek,
And now saw but a mole on his cheek.

47. Every time she tried to appease him he sulked angrily,
And every time she smiled he bared his teeth.

48. He said depart from me, and relieve my pain,
I suffer the bitter and harsh equally.

49. She said to him one day while objecting,
“When, my dear, can the planter reap the fruits?

50. Why this estrangement, when I have done no wrong?
Quench my thirst, do not make it run dry.”

51. “You left me unable to enjoy water or anything else,
As you left my eyelids unable to enjoy sleep.”

52. “Have mercy on me, do not forget your promises,
For if what I have was in a rock, it would have shattered.”

53. She reproached him long, hoping to stir
His heart, but he lengthened his silence.

54. And she embarrassed him, for worries embarrassed her,
And every time she embarrassed him, he pretended apology.

55. Weary of what he hid, he said “I am bound
To the helpless life you lead me, consumed by you.”

56. “I love and desire you, but if I seek it
I anger myself, the Judge, and all people.”

57. “I have two hearts in one body,
My heart cannot be divided in two.”

58. “You ask my heart which is hostage
To another’s hand - how difficult is your request!”

59. “It is enough that I betrayed my wife for you,
While she did not betray our pact or sanctity.”

60. “My infatuation for you was but delirium,
And your love but weakness, truly unsteadiness.”

61. She said “since when were you married?” He said “for a period
I cannot count as life, even if short.”

62. “What horrors my eyes have seen, what horrors my ears heard!
They almost disbelieve hearing and seeing alike.”

63. “Had I not a shred of patience left in me
My soul would have flown from me in shards.”

64. “Oh what betrayal!” she cried out, distraught,
As a lion stirs when his cub is severed.

65. “Now I know I was deluded,
And not all light brings the rain.”

66. “You gave your heart to another while it was my hand’s kingdom,
Not fearing law nor contemplating deterrent.”

67. “The laws of this earth are not just,
The weak never escape humiliation.”

68. “I had feared destiny would come between us,
I should have feared you, not fate.”

69. “You reached me like the full horizon sun,
And guarded me like the wings of night pulled in.”

70. “How can you restore my chastity after stealing it?
Return to me my purity and grace!”

71. “Alas no! My chastity has no compensation,
The right path has shone, the vain desire receded.”

72. She turned to him, her insides boiling,
As if she were a volcano erupting and spewing lava.

73. In her chest raged the fires of hatred,
Though its sparks were few.

74. And he saw the blade she hid in her fingers,
So he started racing to the door in panic.

75. But she outran him in her craze,
Stabbing him in the chest, she made a river flow.

76. He fell to the ground, still without movement,
But Francine died before the death throes came.

77. She was crazed by fear and sorrow, so killed herself,
Not for love of death, but fear of harm.

78. Before the tragedy she was forgotten, but after it
She became the talk of all people.

79. The young girl derives lessons from her story,
As the youth peruses it for morals.