1. He gathered diverse schools together like pieces
of a shining dome for scattered pleasures to unite under,

2. And charmed our ears with a moon whose peerless light
wanders lost over the dark horizons of hearing,

3. And knits together scattered words into a poem
that is a pearl which the Maker has not yet pierced,

4. We set snares for a gazelle and it became our boon companion,
so it fell into the very snares we made,

5. With its glances it spins a Babylonian spell for us
and freely grants intimacy to the aspirer,

6. So from it we look to the branch, though the branch hangs low,
and from it we look to the moon, though the moon is rising,

7. Without it the gazelle would be torn to pieces by the wolf,
but the lion protected it while the wolf went hungry,

8. The wolf longs for the lion to enjoy its height
while the wolf keeps its lairs and dens,

9. So I said to the wolf, "Desist from evil thoughts,
for evil in the lion's woods will meet defeat."