1. The springtime of youth is finer
Than any other season or time

2. In it I cast off my modesty
And playfulness became my garb

3. When I would be at a coffeehouse
Just relaxing and breathing easy

4. From the hand of a fawn-eyed darling
Sweet of pillow, a heart-releaser

5. Her cheeks bloomed and her eyes were languid
And a glance from them intoxicating

6. Swaying like a branch, made tipsy
By the fluttering of the zephyr’s breeze

7. She hands me a cup of wine
Golden, from the radiant vine

8. “Rise and serve me,” I tell her, “or else
I shall say ‘enough, enough’ and desist”

9. The rosy-cheeked beauty frowned
When my boon companion growled

10. As though musk were bursting out
And streaming from her, swift as light

11. So the fire in her, when she flashed
A smile, the water ignited bright

12. She rose like the dawning sun
Beaming from a crescent white

13. Firmer in battle than ‘Amr ibn Ma’di
Or any knight of purest might

14. A torrent in raids, a lion
In the thick of every fight

15. If the Suhayban tried to subdue him
He would simply shirk and take flight

16. Swifter than sparks in the fray’s bonfire
And hotter than its searing light

17. He brought in ripe crops of the lofty tops
Of a grove that knows no blight

18. How could Glory’s scion not reap
Greatness when it is his by right?

19. He fears no war, however dire,
When the steeds stampede in their might

20. Nay, he plunges in its darkest depths
A grimmer lion in the fight

21. The unflinching heroes give way
When he snarls in his angry spite

22. How can a fox in the lion’s den
Withstand a lord with lions’ might?

23. Does the lion fear the panther’s spots
Or the howl of the barking blight?