1. She is my skin, and yet she has never rested from sorrow,
No happiness has she brought to me, only misery,

2. If she has bequeathed me prolonged sadness,
She has not granted me a spacious respite,

3. Nadwa wept, stirring my compassion,
The heart was aflame with passion for her,

4. I wondered at her coyness and longing,
I thought it was joyful flirtation,

5. Her voice reminds me of a young gazelle,
Captivating the hearts with her beautiful singing,

6. When the moist breeze blows gently by her,
She sways a delicate branch gracefully,

7. You’d think her face was the rising moon,
When she frowns her face darkens like the sunset,

8. How many times I have inhaled the fragrance of her down,
Never have I smelled a fragrance so sweet,

9. When her black tresses cascade down,
Scorpions crawl above her alluring eyebrows,

10. From neither of our homes comes a sweet scent,
Unless I breathe in the perfume of her cheek,

11. My anxious heart loves you, young gazelle,
Fearing lest you shy away and flee,

12. I have cast off the cloak of my patience for you,
And sadness has clothed me in a coarse garment,

13. I wish I could kiss your neck,
And quench my thirst from your white slender waist,

14. None can enjoy life, except the lover,
Who embraces his beloved at night,

15. I obeyed the lovers by loving my darling,
And disobeyed the blamer and the watcher,

16. When I implore her, she blushes with anger,
Not noticing my pallor and leanness,

17. She removed the cloak of my patience from my shoulders,
And clothed me in the garb of deep sorrow,

18. One who hides his love fearing harm,
I show him my weeping and lament,

19. And because I failed to attain union with her,
And saw no share of her affection,

20. I went saying, while my eyelids shed tears,
Like a shy maiden, blood flowing from her wounds,

21. In the wild, the blazing fire of passion burns within me,
My heart is melting from its ferocious heat,

22. People see her as happy and smiling,
While to me she is aloof and remote.