1. I care not for the torn garment,
Nor bending courtesy, nor slippery footing;

2. I care not for the thick covering of hypocrisy in getting
Or for polish and elegance;

3. I care not that my journey is in a vessel
With every blood vessel ready to burst;

4. Its sides straitened upon me
By their jostling till I'm well nigh bursting;

5. I live in it though it tortures me,
Narrow and confined as if in a flask;

6. It dances in the sea before
The slapping waves;

7. The wind blows not in an orderly
And agreed upon direction;

8. It blows westwards and at times
Towards the east;

9. Like a mad fellow, a trusted thief,
Our boon companion;

10. Homeliest of creatures - so Glory to Him
Who created him!

11. With a face like an ape's but for
The beard and prominent nostrils;

12. He is, for one who observes closely, a cur,
Even if the sky were to crack above him;

13. Even a flea, if drawn into his
Degraded course, would not merit it;

14. An old man, defective though
He be of heavy build;

15. I overburdened him though my overload
Was not excessive;

16. Until, as the horizon disappeared for us
In the gathering darkness,

17. And men grew anxious so that no
Eye of anyone was tranquil,

18. He slept, like a dormant serpent
Coiled round;

19. And he rose in the night like one
Intent on thieving,

20. Hurrying towards a young man whose face
Resembled a shield,

21. Winsome in his beauty
And a well-matured coffee-brown;

22. One whose waist narrows down
Until I thought it would snap;

23. I let fly my bird at him
From my pair of cross-bows;

24. He fell prone and none preceded me
In attaining his intimacy;

25. The ring-dove moaned, relieving me
Of the wild pigeon's plaint;

26. Glory to God who does not forget
His covenant or pledge,

27. Even if the serpents of humanity kindle
And burn about Him,

28. I risked my precious soul, for every temptation
Connected with it was suspended;

29. It surges towards you like
A sparrow hawk,

30. Its surging wave all but tears
Asunder the swimmer;

31. How many a night mounted me on its ridge
Behind him on the mule's packsaddle!

32. When he excelled in exposing himself
The day we halted at the packsaddle,

33. While a gazelle frisky in the dark
Grazed in her pasture,

34. One whose grilling had now
Drawn together the tent-pitching;

35. He arrived, and my soul still
Yearned eagerly to meet him;

36. But for the manners of his garment
I should have made free with him;

37. After him a chicken
Stewed in its juice,

38. Pursued by the mangy scab
Of its oil and gravy;

39. Happy the man for whom is this!
Glory to the Lord who sustains him!