1. I pour out words of love between us
And reveal what consciences conceal

2. You see a shining moon ashamed of sunrise
The planets orbit its glowing light

3. And from afar yearn towards me with glances
That set astir the keenest sentiments

4. At times you start, fearing intimacy’s unease
As a gazelle startled by a hissing snake

5. Clusters of troops that rise early like wildcats
Seizing them from us, the early risers

6. Peerless moons when they appear in the sky
For the moons in the sky have no equals

7. Beauties with the white breasts of gazelles
Except their eyelids veil them

8. Lightweight when the wrap clads their walk
Heavy, not needing sashes’ support

9. Slender, not thin between puberty and plump
Delicate, turned back but well-prepared

10. Softened like chiselled marble perforce
So after the chisels test us no more

11. If the steeds raced, they’d say, halt your zeal
Champing but where are the bridle-rings?

12. If the delicate anklet were to ring in the market
A vigilant guardian would hide it in his grip

13. Wonders of beauty contracted among them
On estrangement, all tending to estrange

14. By my vow, and your vow, and Safa’s hill
And the most hallowed shrine and its precincts

15. You have let me taste, in consent or ire
A drought still fresh enough to sear the throat