1. She laughed at a strand of gray
In the blackness of my curly hair

2. Then jokingly she said:
“This gray has come too soon!”

3. I said: “It’s not from old age,
But from love for you that turned my hair gray.”

4. She lowered her eyelid lined with kohl.
Time itself adorned it with kohl.

5. In wonder she picked it out
And marveled amusingly

6. How could the youth of a young man not wear out
If you keep cutting the rope when it’s joined?

7. Alone, with separation I’m patient
Bearing all the burdens she loaded on me.

8. She’s like the full moon carrying it.
Her stature is like a supple branch.

9. Her glances, you’d think
Were from a brimming cup of coffee.

10. She aimed them into my heart so
Her arrow pierced it and killed me.

11. I undertook to question her, but gained
No benefit from her.

12. I complained of love’s torment while she—
My plaints did not concern her.

13. Chider, stop blaming a young man
Who slipped into disobeying the one who blamed him.

14. My heart is preoccupied with her
While she is preoccupied with avoiding me.