1. This swaying posture has wearied me
And surrendered me to love's agony

2. And cast me into the abyss of love, my watcher
Though from it I was always fearful

3. Never did I think the first glance
Could slay the young lover totally

4. I was attracted to a fresh, forbidden branch
And a gazelle, rarely amenable

5. Handsome, of high rank in the realm of beauty
I cannot fairly blame him for seducing me

6. Graceful, of noble origin and refined
Noble, though the realm of beauty is nobler

7. With my soul I'd ransom him, for he has visited my abode
Though not all whom you love are tender and compassionate

8. The branch would incline, if it bent like him
While I incline toward that branch, plucked

9. I wept streams when I saw his eyelids
Languishing, and whoever meets misery grieves

10. My steadfastness surpassed the weakness of his lids
My pouring tears replace them when dry

11. Oh, before him, my heart was craving
A moment of his union, restlessly

12. In my solitude, an unbearable passion
And from me humility, and tenderness from him

13. What was between us cannot be described
Not all who experience love can portray it exactly

14. We spent the night while longing spread its chill
And the leaves of passion rustled around us

15. The full moon of nightfall stealthily traveled on
Nearly veiled in shyness from his shining

16. How often the morning breeze drew our hems
Though it is gentler and finer than it

17. No reproach between us do we exchange
Just the memory of days of meeting and yearning

18. I confide my complaints and his cheek reddens
In shyness while my limbs tremble from love

19. The blossoming rose of both cheeks nearly withers
From intense shyness and my worries pluck it

20. This is my discourse on love, and his discourse,
While the eyelids' discourse is hidden

21. If spies have conveyed about us anything contrary
Then they have lied in their claims and altered

22. Ask my resting place about me and him, for it
Knows best what transpired that night of union

23. If not, then ask the breeze about us, for it
Passes by and reveals what we concealed

24. I do not cease loving him for any suspicion
Nor do I yearn for the blamer's invitation

25. My resolve has not stirred me to baseness
I have an inborn chastity that will not taint

26. But I love beauty and soar
On the heights of glory in it, though unsuccessfully

27. If love has made me gaunt, still I have not
Betrayed the covenants of love, whether lovers were faithful or breached them

28. I have a foothold in the doctrine of love, firmly established,
With it I delve into the annals of passion

29. It is in my soul's nature to love the most ardent
Though it disdains anything of its status

30. The love of the gazelles is the root of my affliction
Through it I have lived, distraught and afflicted

31. How often for the aloof gazelle I glance
And how often I incline if it inclines to me

32. How often a figure appeared and so did my demise
No refusal could prevent me from it

33. Nothing hurt me but the words of those who rebuked me
Even if this love does not benefit him, do not overburden him

34. Does my rebuker have the steadfastness that I have?
For one who knows steadfastness will be just

35. My rebuker, relent, if my tears flow
And my ardent heart perceives the one I love

36. Blaming me is useless and excessive
If you repeat it and impose unduly

37. If I am ignorant of the honed spear
This is the polished, refined spear

38. If I am inexperienced with the wine of ardour
Then leave me, as my mouth imbibes it

39. It is your right that I do not forget his love
And that I die of passion, which I am charged to do

40. Whenever that posture appears, even if my heart pains,
I do not hesitate to follow it

41. My passion remains in its place
Even if the faultfinders disparaged me for it

42. By his cheek and radiance, which,
I swear no other in love can parallel

43. If you blame my fervor, O blamer
You are but an envious one or scaremonger