1. He melted musk in a chalice of crystal,
Sprayed it with scent, his hands dyed red.

2. He circled the clouds, chalice in hand,
His gaze roamed to other horizons.

3. A soft-voiced Arab boy,
His waist grasping the hills of love.

4. He switches his pronunciation of dhal
And mixes the foreign qaf with ghayn.

5. He circles among friends
With wine and twice-strained raisin drink.

6. When voices grow heated and joyous,
We witness harmony of two tunes.

7. Another Arab, veils of beauty
Surround him like two eyelids.

8. Death is attributed to his eyes
As spears are attributed to hands.

9. You notice the lilies of his cheeks,
Then modesty turns them to roses.

10. Our refined gathering is lit
With cups of paper and crystal.

11. We unleashed the mouth of the pitcher,
And the spout’s hands were bound all night.

12. Our candle is like an ingot of musk
Molded in a crystal nozzle.

13. Our coffee resembles tongues of fire
Burning in the palms of the cupbearer.

14. When it fills the glass and rises,
Its rays light up East and West.

15. I wondered at a goblet like the moon
Attended by two stars.

16. We celebrate Christian holidays
With dice and backgammon pieces,

17. Making our wine purely one,
Though we pursue both creeds.

18. The flowers' hands have woven a wreath
Above the branches on both banks,

19. With roses blending in carnelian
And goblets like buttons of crystal.

20. Pleasures are gathered for me now
That fruits of the two Edens draw near.

21. I am no stranger to love of the open country,
Or those I love when my debt is done.

22. If they examine my heart on Judgment Day,
They will find among the ribs a love for Hussein.

23. His love seized my heart and breast
To become the throb between them.

24. With my sins his love left me no patience,
So how can I have patience when we're apart?

25. When my heart tries to divert itself,
His image appears before my eyes.

26. O gentle breeze, be a messenger
Between my love and me!

27. O morning fragrance, convey my greetings
To the open country between the two castles!

28. Greet the twin minarets and their sides,
For my days were brought together by the twin mosques.

29. Tell my tormentor, is there any reward
For your previous promises, O promise breaker?

30. Your namesake was unjustly killed,
While you wronged me and set my fate in motion.

31. I gave you my soul in love on a promise
And came to you ready with payment of my debt.

32. I came with my shroud and sword in hand—
How could you turn it into dove of Henin?

33. Why did you make your absence fetters on my heart
When the beauty of your face was chains on my eye?

34. We were as intimate as two turtle doves,
And now we resemble two estranged eagles.

35. I knew your promise had become a lighthouse
To warn me off with flashing eyes.

36. I said, seeing my effort fail
With the full moon between Scorpio's claws:

37. Why did you lead me on with false ropes
And feed me with the mirage of a lair?

38. Why not speak frankly to me,
So refusal would be one of two comforts?

39. I knew you beyond all people when
I appraised you with the eye's integrity.

40. How many saw you before me
Yet none saw you as I did!

41. I indulged your youth till
I placed you in the highest rank.

42. When want was emptied, and we spent the night
In chastity, loins girded,

43. We performed the duties of pilgrims pressed close,
Unaware between the two stone markers.

44. Will you shun me and keep the vow of another?
Can death have an excuse after my debt is done?

45. I said a promise to the noble is a debt—
How could you put me off and deny my due?

46. Shall I take another besides you as my eye
When you were the eye that saw all people?

47. When my beloved comes with a fault,
Beauty races ahead of him with two intercessors.

48. I said you made all people my opponents.
Indeed, I have seen one of two conditions:

49. People were my friends before love of you,
So have you left me even two companions?

50. My estrangement made enemies grow bold
Till they saw you today as the onlooker's ridicule.

51. Why did they not look at you with evil eye
When my command holds sway in both realms?

52. The army's wing fluttered only because
They saw my heart fill both encampments.

53. If my soul settles in Zorah,
My heart is torn between two stirrings—

54. One pulling me toward Bakr's settlements,
Another toward the Abode of the Two Sanctuaries.

55. I will hasten my steps toward Ain Arras
And take the straight path to it, by my head and eyes!

56. I will release my gaze in Jeron's preserve
And wander in the gardens of Nireen.

57. This misfortune is slight in my eyes
If I face it with one smaller still.

58. O you at whose hands my patience was exposed
As the blinking of my eyes did combat—

59. My life in Zorah was poisoned
And my joy's adornment changed to disgrace.

60. Not that my life there was miserable,
But without you, beauty seemed not beautiful.