1. You asked about a singing slave girl whose trailing gowns
The winds had swept along in long trains,

2. Breakers surging up over a smooth expanse of sand
With the swell of seas and a towering wave.

3. She paid me thanks with a graceful inclination
After my heart had nearly swooned from fear.

4. I saw damsels around her like shy gazelles,
Prance in silk raiment of varied hues.

5. Then they turned away without saying, by my life,
Anything but “farewell” and words of kindness,

6. The conversation flowed on smoothly like the passing round of a drinking bowl
With glittering facets in ever-changing hands,

7. A sun others shunned, whose coldness left all hearts frozen,
My own heart melting without loss of life,

8. And seeing the killing of Muslims as lawful to them,
Seeking no blood-price or weregild.

9. Umaymah strayed bewildered, toying with her,
An intriguing riddle, an obscure conundrum.

10. So I was wakeful on her account though I had not been
Wakeful or inclined to long vigils before.

11. How did you find your way to me when desire's remoteness
Allowed no means for the eager to meet?

12. A fair one whose necklace of bliss hath conferred on her youth,
A neckring of pearl you would think was silver mixed with gold.

13. As if the morning air from Khuzam's valley had mingled
With the fragrance of a meadow filled with basil.

14. Whenever the south wind brought us a scent from Umaymah
It was as if musk were mingled with cooling camphor.

15. With lips whose delicious wetness was like that of a cup
Where the pure liquid is tempered with chilled wine.