1. Were it not for shame of the watcher lying in wait
I would have made reaching you my greatest purpose

2. O you who took my heart freely with no
Price and postponed our promised meeting

3. Your eyes kill me yet show no mercy
Your love makes me ill yet you do not heal me

4. My soul is yours, has not some of what
I conceal appeared, though proofs against me abound?

5. I adorned myself for you like a famed necklace
That testifies to my sincerity and true beliefs

6. Sickness is my anklet, youth my gown
Love my crown, tears my necklaces

7. O branch forever bending, crescent
Ever fuller, gazelle of mankind—ensnared by love

8. You trap hearts, yours for the taking
When you appear from behind the veil of estrangement

9. Your splendor veils you like ascending rays
You come into view yet cannot be glimpsed

10. You walk yet your waist cannot be encircled
O vision of beauty—wondrous miracles

11. Testify to the creation of the One, the Singular
The fluttering of his cheek is like a melting teardrop

12. The arrangement of his smile like solid prose
O rose of his cheek—surely from a blossoming bud!

13. O sweetness of his mouth—surely from a flowing stream!
It would cease the injustice of my oppressive heart

14. Flowing with the honey of my fervent passion
If his love in the soul inclined to one

15. It would act like Jesus with the withered corpse
Who is mine, to proudly display between gentle curls

16. Like the moon among stars pouring down
And to gently incline in the garb of beauty

17. As the morning breeze bends the supple branch
Tempting glances—never free of

18. A sorcerer, or one with the evil eye or curse
Shall I hope for his acceptance and favor

19. When time brings those against me and opposed?
Or his nearness, when fortune does not aid me

20. Or his image, when my eye is not at rest?
Shall I delight in remnants when contentment

21. Is not lasting, nor the season of union to come?
If you will, O beautiful one called Ahmad

22. You would gather perfections and praises
Why does one who comes with sincere faith

23. In love remain in endless torment?
O Lord, grant him reward for slaying me intentionally

24. And grant me pardon for his weighty offense
O you who obeyed advisors yet often

25. I disobeyed counsel and guide in you
It’s enough that your beauty seduced my chastity

26. And my sickness suffices that cushions are elevated
I gained no share of you—what share is there in love

27. For one who steals glances, no promise to return?
I lost my days in your estrangement—would that

28. Death had come just one day sooner
By God, I have no purpose for this world when

29. My beloved does not favor me