1. She came after the dusk had pulled the reins of disappearance,
And the morning spread out from it a gilded strip,

2. And the flowers in the stream of the Milky Way, some of them
Float on its surface, and some sink,

3. It was as if the starred sky a decorated bride
Who was led and dressed in western finery,

4. The sand grouse prayed with the greetings
Which the gentle breeze conveyed to its hearing,

5. And the birds fluttered their wings as callers to prayer
And the leaves recited while the bulbuls preached,

6. An innocent dawn in Babylon
Growing toward its Harut even as it is ascribed,

7. Veiled in the bosom of a gentle Tigris below it
A procession of meanings for beauty marches,

8. Forbidden quarters by the white antelope
So the star is closer to it than the hunter,

9. O lover of veils, rather the veiled ones, how
Did you find your way when the course was not clear?

10. I would have been content with you in the year of distress
With an apparition, not to mention a visit would suffice,

11. And I despaired when your guards prevented
My visit, and they connived and plotted,

12. By God, if you had sent your specter I would have bowed
Fearing the confounders, anxious and watching,

13. But you refused save to cool a flame
Which if justified by the sea it would have burned,

14. So God neglected the unlucky and turned away
From the fortune of the ardent admirer and his fortune seeks,

15. I swear by your guide whose lights
Are like the sun except it does not set,

16. You would have revived in me an ardent love
And attained for me what I seek,

17. Alas Abu Hasan with what words
Can I praise your most high character?

18. You have adorned me with a necklace of pride
In the like of which the seeker of favors aspires,

19. This alongside many an outstretched hand
That my shoulder cannot undertake to carry,

20. And you have counseled me with a gracious excuse, and I
Fear the blamer, not the reproacher,

21. I was alerted as I slept expectantly of you
The enemies scatter from you one who gathers,

22. So extend to it a palm for an hour's framework
But its father is, without pride, the begetter

23. And when evening comes to you, recite to it:
"We came across each other by chance, so we said 'hubbub'"