1. A friend grants wise counsel though love wounds the heart,
Hoping to turn a wild straying soul to walk the right path.

2. She admonished me to follow virtue and self-restraint,
Though that right path opposes my nature and character.

3. When her rebukes grew harsh I silenced her,
And she retreated from me with a pounding heart.

4. How I calmed my heart, she should know. I silenced it
When I saw the right course was not to my taste.

5. A vintage wine, refined as virtue itself,
Long hidden in dark cellars from prying eyes,

6. Shimmers in hues when poured in a glass -
It leaves the eloquent mute in mid-speech.

7. A golden wine which glitters in its chalice
Like a perfect pearl strung by a master’s hand.

8. I drank it from the palm of a slender-waisted cupbearer,
Who sings more sweetly than a lover’s sigh.

9. The amorous glance of his dark eyes
Seduces, luring men to forbidden sips.

10. Though a Christian, the faith of Christians is not his faith,
An infidel, he never sought baptismal waters.

11. A beauty, elegant in form - if you spoke to him
You would renounce your faith entirely in an instant.

12. By God! Were it not for the fear
That I would fall to an unjust and profligate ruler,

13. I would adopt his religion and enter it
With clear-sighted discernment like a diving falcon.

14. I know well my Lord singled out no creed
Other than the true faith as worthy and sincere.