1. Alas! Would that I knew, though bewilderment is an aberration,
What the palm of the maiden struck to kindle her passion!

2. Had the snub-nosed minx but known the lineage of my sire
And mother, she would have humbled herself lower before me.

3. My father is the son of the best stock of the tribe in rank and abode,
And my mother the daughter of free nobles, didst thou but know her!

4. When I speak any words to her, in talk between me and her,
The whiteness of her face seconds me from her right hand.