1. O friend, go slowly, be less severe with me, O friend
And do not be my blamer, haunting me

2. I swear by God, surely God is full of bounty
To whom He wills, and is forgiving and reconciling

3. My eyes are not inclined to what I do not possess
Of what appears to me, tempting my roving eyes

4. Nor do I sit conversing in the morn with one
Whose talk is vain, so my earnestness is not for morning

5. When they lean on their elbows, and their palms turn them
Aside, changing course, turned by cups and goblets

6. Truly I fear the rude, ill-mannered ignoramus
And avoid the God-fearing and gentle at rest

7. Never leaving me, as long as I live, one whose love
Is my necklace, a generous steed, smooth-gaited

8. Or a mare from my prized horses, swimming
As if she were the flowing train of a bride's dress

9. A grandsire of flags, stripping bare,
Far from waterskins, barren land, displaced

10. I rewarded him with a she-camel, male-like
Like a roaming hyena with two cubs

11. And I have become amorous like an oryx
The spittle of youth overflowing, bright-faced

12. She lulls to sleep her lover when he tosses and turns
And makes him cling when in summer the coolness is pleasant for the wakeful

13. The saliva of her mouth seems when she smiles
Like a mixing of honey with quince and apple

14. It's as if her habit in every dark night
Is the lamp's light when darkness is confused

15. By your life, even if I tried to correct what is in my hands
Men would not praise, after death, my reforming

16. I perfume my robe with praise of my neighbor, spending it
Until I become dust beneath boards

17. After shadows, when I am sealed in a grave
In the depths of a gloomy, dark tomb

18. Or become a corpse in the head of a valley
Or in a cavity in the ground, buried

19. How many a youth like a twig of mimosa in a vineyard
Pure complexion, connecting cheek and temple

20. I left him without bidding him farewell or being bidden
At dawn in a ramshackle shelter

21. Are we ought but bodies passing under the soil
And spirits like spirits