1. He gave a little, then took back,
Approached cautiously and was blocked.

2. A ghost pained me and my night,
Raised from the darkness a curtain.

3. So it appeared like the full moon, from
The gap of clouds when it shows.

4. O, the charm when it took form
In the bareness and straightened its posture.

5. Free of clothes like a statue of marble
Stripped of the meanings of beauty, cold.

6. Have you seen a doll of marble
Shivering, undulating its breast?

7. A face shining bright
Like a sword or European blade.

8. It hid its beauty with the veil of
Locks and revealed it.

9. I wronged myself and accused
The eye when it blocked.

10. What is its matter, what does it want
And what does it intend?

11. Did it come to see how
I spend my night worried and wakeful?

12. My liver oozes with wound
And my eyelids stream with tears.

13. My chest shreds with
The gale of passion, knot by knot.

14. Or did it come to jest? And passion
Thankfully became serious.

15. If it believes passion
Is a "child"; it has reached manhood.

16. By God, I never wasted
The pledge of love since I made a pact.

17. So I betrayed youth
And passion and came wanton.

18. It greeted me lowering its head
And walked towards me stretching its arm.

19. It winked and I winked so the
Eyes conversed, giving and taking.

20. I did not come close to it
So if I approached, it distanced and blocked.

21. It turns its cheek to me
And rotates its cheek to cheek.

22. When I intended it
It drew back laughing at me and blocking.

23. Like the coyness of a beauty
When she pretended to flirt on purpose.

24. Had I picked its cheek
I would have plucked an apple and a rose.

25. It continued with me until
It tempted youth and even challenged.

26. I reasoned with it gently
But gentleness was fruitless if applied.

27. I extended its means of contact
And the meadows stretched out to it.

28. I allured it with my ruses
And repelled it backwards and blocked.

29. I tried to beguile it
But it guided with reason.

30. I did not know it was
Stronger handed and a stronger ally.

31. It dazzled the eyes so they erred
In gauging its stance and boundary.

32. Like the sun you think has come
Close to setting but is farthest.

33. I despaired of its matter
And found intimacy and alienation.

34. Nearness and distance, while it
Did not budge, and union and loss.

35. It was as if beyond attaining
It there lies an abyss and barrier.

36. After it I see the mirages
As water but they are not its equal.

37. Was there in its knowledge
Anything but sorrow and vigil a helper?

38. It aroused and provoked anguish
And restlessness, turmoil and fervor.

39. It showed and sowed embers
In my chest that do not settle.

40. It left the consolers in my consciousness
Screaming, writhing in pain.

41. It possessed the heart so it led it
And with the bridle of reason took control.

42. So how much I called but it did not
Respond, and had I called Saffa he would have answered.

43. And how much I sought the means
For it, hoping it would relent.

44. And how much I softened its heart
O how stubborn hearts can be!

45. Had I softened it with what
I treat it with, I'd have softened solid rock.

46. I made my madness a pasture
For it and tears its watering place.

47. I kept trying to draw it near
While it recoiled aloofly and barred.

48. Until I collapsed with no vigor left
Having exceeded my limit.

49. I fell, my strength depleted
Like a bird that missed its branches and plummeted.

50. It pounced on me and embraced me
And allowed me to taste its lips' nectar.

51. What relief for the deprived when
He breathes his last breath as relief?