1. The moon shone bright then waned to set
Like a beautiful maiden falling to her death

2. And a shooting star flashed into being
Like a teardrop falling from the eyes of night

3. As for the stars, in it they throbbed
As though they were hearts troubled by danger

4. When we were on the spacious bank of the Tigris
Where water and trees mingled

5. Their night was blessed on its sands
And the gathering was blessed within its depths

6. After that, sleep overcame them
Their eyes spoke not, nor looked

7. All slept except a nightingale in his bush
Who sang poetry or improvised verse

8. It was as if, in his melodious trills
He complained then made excuses

9. Complaining to the night of passions that perturbed him
And the night listened to him, veiled in darkness

10. His laments have wounded me with their intensity
For every delicate sound has an effect on me

11. By day, did the thorns injure his tongue
Or did the flowers not visit when he called?

12. Or did the ravens destroy his nest
Overpowering him, while he was helpless?

13. Or did his love disappear, and when she returned
He found in her place a slithering snake?

14. He sang from the branch, shaking it
Until I thought the branch would snap

15. I heard his sobs from the branch of his bush
It seemed to me bursting hopes

16. It seemed a raging fire
Its sparks scattering in all directions

17. It seemed my soul and nerves were aflame
While my breast and composure burned

18. A voice whose sorrows pierced like arrows
While its source hid in the night’s conscience

19. I called to him, telling him to hear my poetry
And know I, like him, am free of blame or burden

20. Verse that portrays the eye’s meaning overflowing misery
Its words the tears of that eye pouring down

21. We are alike in affliction, in a society
Where both of us await the meeting of death

22. Indeed both our endings, unless God protects us
Will be prone on earth, spilled blood or lifeless