1. I loved not the gardens of Salma, but rather
I love the sands, for the one who dwelt in the sands

2. And I knew not that the glance of her eyes
Would strike the heart of the enamored when she glanced

3. My heart was wary of love and its toil
That wariness was only to be safe

4. Until it appeared to the heart when it appeared to it
Radiant, outshining the sun on the horizon of the sky

5. By God, she has a lovely pearl-like smile
That gave me cups of love when she smiled

6. So no matter how she moves coquettishly like a shy gazelle
Or sways delicately like a supple branch

7. Oh, for a love that dwelt in my heart
So it cried out between my ribs and blamed

8. The yearning army invaded my heart
So it became spoils in the hands of youths

9. Would that Salma sent an apparition in the meadows
To quench hearts inflamed by the youths

10. Would that she sent greetings with the morning breeze
To soak a heart whose embers have died down

11. Her morning breeze blows upon my ailing body
So what pained me is cured

12. No matter how my tears flowed or the clouds poured
By God, I know not which of the two gave rain

13. Naught is in my eyelids but tears flowing down
Naught is in my heart but sorrows holding sway

14. My tears revealed the love in my heart
Which had been a secret guarded in my chest

15. If you blame me for confessing my love openly
I will recite, can love remain hidden?

16. Oh longing heart, how long will you
Pass the night as love decreed, sleepless?

17. If union on which my comfort depends is denied
That cannot prevent the lover from imagining

18. I will hope for union though her estrangement be long
And spend my life hoping and perhaps

19. The slanderers claimed I forsook
Her love and sight of her and am patient without them

20. She thought I was diverted from love
And that I no longer pass the night lovesick

21. Never! Time cannot erase or destiny undo
What she etched into the tablets of my heart