1. God watered a monastery where I visited a priest
Who was noble, of clear complexion, saintly

2. Of manners pleasing to Prophet Muhammad
And adhering to what Jesus enjoined his people

3. I gladden him when I sing to him, as though
I rang for him at dawn in the monastery a bell

4. He served me a goblet, gold plated
As if pearls were implanted on its rims

5. Freed from Sheba, I deemed it
The basilisk sways with it the skirts of Satan

6. So from its face in the cup he shows sprightliness
Toward me and from my face he retorts with a frown

7. Withdrawn with it he hastens to drinking
Clad by the Turks with awe, a turban

8. He fancies, when he preens in the chill of his beauty
Having tasted the inebriation of wine, a peacock

9. Its hooded snake, when it saw its shape
Carried to its heart Pharaoh, the day of Moses' staff

10. He rejoices, who met him once in his proximity
With Solomon's bliss on Bilquis' throne

11. So he recited to me refined, elegant verse
In which adaptation and rhyme in beauty harmonized

12. And his eyelash throbs an arrow whenever it hums
And the brow arches it like a bow's curving

13. On his waist gather ten fingers
And in his saddlebag the soft and the busa cloth