1. Allah watered a gazelle, bending its neck in peril,
Swaying like a frail branch, so delicate of waist.

2. In its eyes is evident magic, on its eyelids,
And in its gaze, a fragrance like the first scent of musk.

3. It is the full moon, except it has a coquettish glance
With the winking of an eye that belongs neither to sun nor moon.

4. And it laughs from a pretty mouth as though it were
Bubbles of wine or pearls of pure white.

5. Without cause it was harsh to me, though I adored it,
And left me with no patience, empty of all endurance.

6. Had he spent the night with separation cleaving his heart,
He would be kind again with lasting union till the end of time,

7. Fearing that estrangement and parting would wear him out
So he would suffer ember upon ember from separation.

8. Allah watered days when there was no estrangement between us,
And the willow branch sways with green, tender leaves.

9. Nawruz greets us in the darkness of the gloaming
With light upon the branches like glistening stars.

10. It appears like waving flags, its apple
Yellow, white, green, red, on the bough.

11. Whenever the wind meets it, it bows its head to the drinking
As though intoxicated, inclining toward sweetness.

12. It came with a mute speaker, one who listens,
Who, without a tongue, continues to speak sorcery.

13. To reveal the secret of lovers in his voice
As pens speak, loudly proclaiming a secret.

14. You’d think its thighs were tablets which
Are tied to a leg, clamoring with buzzing.

15. Its fingers are dyed, five of them,
Sealed by strings in good times and bad.

16. If, one day, the finger of a lutenist joins them,
It tells the lament of passion from the burning of separation.

17. It says, as if spilling blood and tears atop a cheek when they flow,
“Greetings to one I mention whose secret I guard from spies.

18. Some revel in joy and delight while others suffer;
Some revel in wine while others ache in prison.

19. Some weep for others until their tears flow
Down their cheeks like pearls spilling into the breast.”

20. I helped them, knowing what love begets
And that the madness of love burns for the free.

21. Allah watered days now gone yet still green.
Oh, would that they’d return and last until the resurrection!