1. The residents of the sanctuary are a mystery to me
I have no history of passion or of fleeting loves

2. How far is the sanctuary from me! May God water the sanctuary
With heavy rain, for it has a caring guardian

3. And dwellings between meadows and comrades
More generous than forty or a meadow

4. Those are not ordinary dwellings erected
Between isolated dunes and hillocks

5. How often have I been entertained by their
Melodious songs or rhyming meters

6. A white European or a tawny Greek girl
Sitting devotedly chanting a refrain

7. Like an emaciated brunette overwhelmed
By deep gashes of passion in her heart

8. And a mature woman whose lingering trace
Of vigor remains only a faint glimmer

9. From the palm of a polished darling who reclines languidly
With half-closed eyes towards a startled fawn

10. The clock hands on his cheeks stood still in confusion
Perplexed, lodged in hearts through the night

11. Maturity made acceptable his disposition and exchanged
The fickleness of youth for calm composure

12. In a garden whose cool shades were woven
By clouds, and what cloud is more skillful!

13. The rainy season arrived with its belt fastened round
Exchanging greetings of fertility and prosperity

14. The lion’s roar was raised in its hunting grounds
Between a watcher and a cubit

15. Those small hills were thrusting and provoked
Their treachery with a most sharp piercing

16.
As if the supreme sovereign had endowed them

17. With his cascading inexhaustible outpouring
The warrior wading into the deepest part of the fray

18. With war undisguised and bare
And the men in the bloody remnants of one

19. Who gathers his clothes, humbled and submitting
In a distressing, hateful, predicament

20. The knights trapped in its entanglement
With breasts whose movement passing seems

21. Like floods rushing from the side of a hill
Or the piercing glance of a restless doe that realizes

22. From the top of a watchtower complete disclosure
And a smooth surface appears on its pages

23. Like water flowing above a crawling ant
And an intelligent one, if he attempts to penetrate a knight’s armor

24. Will not succeed for all his equipment provides no avail

25. As if the coats of mail at his disposal
Are from the needlework of coarse commoners

26. With bright resolute minds his viewpoint in war
Is none other than the most steadfast and brave

27. As if he struts about in its thickets
While gloom hides the darkness in great abundance

28. A valiant lion in the saddle of a sturdy steed
Charging in a courageous hero's garb

29. His spreading generosity dispersed in the land
Seeking the possessors of echoing shields

30. His fingers created to crush the armored enemy
And undo Indian turbans and protect companions

31. No banner raised to the farthest extent
Except he reaches it with the longest lance

32. His endeavors filled time, so his days
Are days of towns and days of combat

33. And his hands cultivated blessings, for they
Endure, while the others quickly disappear

34. And when kings boast of glories
None can match his fatherly care and endeavors

35. The fire of generosity was not lit in the hall
Except he made it flare with more fuel

36. The kings of time seek and fear him
For he protects them from malicious destruction

37. My honored supreme king, the plea
Of an anxious vagrant wanderer in fright

38.
I shall never tire being your faithful supporter

39. And praising your leadership in gatherings
I present to you garments of praise

40. That remove and clear the dust of greed
Polished words the youth finds

41. From every rough, rugged path

42. You perfected what you set apart, so praises of you
Achieved ultimate perfection

43. How long shall I waste my days travelling
Between composure and turmoil?

44. I swore by my walking stick and the darkness to unpack
My belongings, and not resume my journey

45. I resembled a town, and all those I passed
Resembled youths expelled from their dwellings

46.
I would greet a district in the morning

47. And bid its inhabitants farewell by evening
Always patching up so I can mend