1. I sat with her as the tram sped along
To where there's no contention or opposite

2. As though the trams had slumbered in the earth
And the earth was a pillow, to them a knot

3. Yes, it is a knot, nay, knots! Do you not see
On the ground, wires turning, stretching out?

4. It moves, folding the earth like a rug, as though
Its wheels were hands and the earth were soft

5. Like a hill, except the hill remains still
And like the wind, except it is unseen

6. I fancied it stayed still, so fast it sped
While the world rushed by atop its back

7. Conveyances hover over it like it’s
A king, and they his troops and retinue

8. The wind falls short beside it, competing
How could the barefoot vie with it in speed?

9. Yet it's held in the grip of a servant
So what king is steered by a slave’s hands?

10. As if it were hosting guests in its abode
One delegation leaves it, and another seeks it

11. I communed with my beloved despite the blamer
Our only aim, to be close, she and I

12. It carried us over the land, cheek-to-cheek
As if it knew all we sought was intimacy

13. By God, I feared only when it would halt
Lest the morrow surprise us with parting

14. When it ended its journey, lo, we were
On the shore of the endless sea

15. There we halted, lips sealed
As if we were incapable of passion

16. We were silent, but eyes speak
More profoundly than tongues can profess

17. We were drunk, without wine
But love, when it seizes the hearts of men, saps all reason

18. Then she said, tears spilling onto her cheeks
Where the rose had faded to sallow:

19. “Would that death met us here, my friend
If we must forego the delights of reunion”

20. “What a daunting, frightening notion!
And what a tantalizing spectacle to seduce even the stoic!”

21. I said: “I love whatever you love
The poison from you is sweetness to me”

22. She said: “Do you pine for oblivion for my sake?
Leave foolishness be, earnestness becomes a man”

23. I said: “If I were in paradise without you
By God, eternal life would not delight me”

24. “If there is no cradle with you inside
How sweet, my Hind, if one grave embraced us both”

25. She said: “By the truth, you speak sincerely
So yours are affection and love everlasting”

26. “Even had I never loved her beauty before
By God, she would suffice me henceforth”