1. The lute in the drinker's hand reveals
Through fingers what tunes to us it yields

2. The birds sang over it while in the grove
Now a deer sings over it with antlers curved

3. A stick of wood that suffered the strikes of stone
In meadows it grew with trees in years gone

4. Especially when from its hole emerged
A flower - and what a flower from gems so pearly!

5. It thinks its fragrance comes from its misery
While we think apples of cheeks are the fruit

6. It captivates hearts with its words and gaze
And I am smitten 'twixt speaking and sight

7. I have bound it so we may find comfort
Like a deer bound in a snare when it takes flight

8. Never did my heart thrill before it heard
Its songs that steal minds without excuse made

9. It probed hearts with probing of its strings
As though our hearts lay between each string

10. Its melodies awakened in us all
That hearts for contemplation hoard and bring

11. O silent one, though the lute beneath fingers
Sings, the touch reports more than speech delivers

12. Does your singing, I wonder, or your melodies
Make me drunk, or your strings and their quivers?

13. Your gentle fingers revealed all that was
In the enamored heart concealed and hidden

14. No warrior unsheathed except his glance
And a spear from the waist when battle quickened

15. Our hearts bowed to him in obedience
And the sword rules its Lord no matter who conquered