1. With his alluring glance he has slain me
And with his shapely neck and teeth.

2. Sweeter to my heart, though separation's bitterness is great,
Than my humiliation and the bitterness of estrangement.

3. O companion, if you pass by the loved one's abode
Take care - lest you rouse the jealous spies.

4. There my passion was born, there I learned
Through disdain and long estrangement to bear my torment.

5. Steal with me to my camp, by the winding path of devotion,
That the thirst of the love-crazed heart may be quenched.

6. Take to the sweet-smelling branch, for in it is the fragrance
Of the garden's blossoms and trees.

7. Were it not for the greenness of his fresh youth,
I would not wander distraught amid the basil bushes.

8. Never! Were it not for that shapely neck,
I would not be weary of clinging to the boughs.

9. The beauty of the slender and graceful one was not marred
If he adorned his charm with kindness.

10. I forget him and am deprived of the wine of his saliva
If another settles in my intimacy.

11. No sin except to the eyes, which made attractive
What they borrowed from the charm of the supple bough.

12. They stole the provisions of beauty from him, so they gained
Sleeplessness - and that is the right of the thief.