1. With breasts like full pouches, she's a palace maid,
Who captivated me with her neck and lovely face.

2. A slave-girl dressed in striped robes like a fawn,
With kohl-lined eyelids and perfumed hair.

3. I've long admired her beautiful face.
But loving slave-girls wasn't my affair.

4. With poems at every meeting I would entreat her,
Weaving verses like spells that imprison the heart,

5. Until she agreed to union and came to me
Unexpectedly one evening at dusk.

6. I said "Welcome!" and we passed the cup
Brimming like embers ablaze.

7. "I'm innocent before God," she said,
"Of drinking with men and the sin it conveys."

8. I said "Drink up, if it's forbidden, the blame's mine.
Raima, my darling, I'll carry our sins."

9. When I sought intimacy, she cried in despair,
"Then I'll die! Tears streamed down her face.

10. Gently, I thought: she's pure – a virgin's fears!
So I stayed tender, though desire gave chase.

11. As passions increased, she swayed like a palm,
And I drowned in her swaying, submerged in a tide.

12. I called "Help, boy!" Slipping, sinking, crying "Save me!"
He threw me a rope, saving me from the brine.

13. I swore never to voyage or ride the rough waves.
I'll walk on firm land, my life I'll confine!