1. The youth played joyously in the meadow,
He walked about pretending to be Alexander,

2. Or that he was the elegant As'ad,
And on the battlefield of existence he prepared donkeys.

3. He wove violets into the delicate fragrance,
Embroidering hopes upon it with red roses.

4. Their varieties perfumed the soft pages,
And the mole sprinkled them with fragrant musk.

5. O you who freely give beauty its rein,
I thought beauty would never change.

6. Be gentle with the passionate heart,
Passion has stolen its paradise and confused it.

7. Unjustly you think me lighthearted, that
The tales of love will never diminish.

8. And your gentle essence passed through my mind,
Except yearning has clad me in yellowish rags.

9.
So when I am alone, you are the solitude of my thoughts,

10. And when I come to people, you are all I see.
How could I be lighthearted when the gentleness of your love

11. Is a secret in the heart of my being's secret?
O heart, be patient, perhaps He will unite us