1. The dove's cooing on the branches makes me languish
And the lightning sometimes laughs, and then makes me weep

2. I did not fall for the thread of separation, nor for
The arrow of a glance that pierces me

3. O Zainab's house, though the world separates us
You sheltered a gazelle who cannot shelter me

4. O Zainab's house, I have a hidden pain
That has filled my poetry, who can heal me?

5. My friend turned hostile after knowing me
That was easier to bear than this thing that saddens me

6. I lingered long around your house
Thirsty, if only the cupbearer would let me drink

7. I put myself forward like a supple letter
Swaying gently in the soft, blowing wind

8. What are these wonders, these disappearances, these
Appearances of beauty and perfection?

9. From smooth cheeks to pomegranate blossoms
To rosy cheeks and apple orchards

10. When I described your eyes to a lover
He looked at me with his eyes comforting me

11. I wept until one like me wept and grieved
What is this thing in me that troubles me?

12. His passion is like my passion, his mouth and
Eyebrow like the joined arc of a Turkish bow

13. Glory to the Creator of this swaying waist
Twisting like a bridle, and these eyes of the eye

14. These lips and hair have seduced me
This waist has undone me, by God, of my religion

15. Swaying and inclining, bending like this
Numan's rods in the sand dunes of Yabrin

16. They said, "You are smitten with the slender-waisted one." I said, "The stab
Of smooth cheeks and soft sides has pierced me."

17. If her final greeting were to give me a sip
Cold from her mouth, that would quench me in the battle line

18. The color of partridges, the color of doves and the
Color of wild roses and the color of sweet basil

19. In my heart is a madness that will not leave me
But the madman only finds relief at times