1. Is it the dawn whose splendor appears, or lightning that flashes?
Or did the radiance of my beloved arise and illuminate?

2. He rose from his bed distressed,
With disheveled locks and rumpled gown.

3. He wipes the drowsiness from his sleepy eyes,
A lion in pursuit of prey each day.

4. I cherished him with kindness, his beauty supreme,
The finest life, and I protected him.

5. He is sincere, not mixed with impurity,
Pure, unadulterated, without pretense.

6. I said “Come, my darling, and give me a kiss
To relieve your worries and soothe your pain.”

7. He turned aside, trembling at my plea,
Saying “No!” then held out his hand to me.

8. Whenever I spoke he kissed me,
If he said a word I echoed it back.

9. He almost swooned from my kisses,
My sipping his lips made him melt.

10. He said “Beguile me, make me your bird,
And you will see me racing with my troubles.”

11. If I ask him to fulfill a promise someday,
He says “Remind me again tomorrow.”

12. He sipped the wine of youth till drunk,
Beauty quenched his thirst till overfull.

13. If we spend the night in a garden,
Lush, with burgeoning plants,

14. He arises at midnight troubled,
Shaking off drowsiness with his teardrops.

15. No! He is a restless, sleepless gazelle
Who wakes at dawn after a dark night.

16. She moaned from the pain I caused,
Then in anger she bit my face intentionally.

17. So I am the wounded one from her bite,
May God never cure me of it!

18. In a lonely place, far from any neighbors,
Friends, the apple of my eye.

19. It has good vegetation, its surroundings
Like the down on a cheek when it first appears.

20. You’d think its hill a mountain,
Its pond a cold, gushing spring.

21. When I stayed there, pitching my tent,
My hopes prostrated themselves before me.

22. I saw fear itself living there,
And free men gathered around me.

23. He whose days I spent flourished,
While doom itself feared me.

24. A king thought to be just in his rule,
An imam who rightly guided us.

25. I pictured him with a spear in his hand
Like a moon carrying a shining sword.

26. Know well the choice I made for myself,
Whether time brought harm or destiny struck.

27. Not like one who lives fearing villages aflame,
But one who lives fearing the fire of truth.