1. A gentle apparition visited me and vanished,
Leaving in my heart the greatest yearning.

2. If you truly saw him in a year,
For God's sake, describe him, do not subtract or add.

3. You saw him - if he died of thirst
On raging flames kindling in the heart,

4. And water closer than the eye of his beloved,
Still he would refuse the water's coming.

5. You speak truly - constancy in love is his habit,
And how much patience he has to endure torment!

6. So I said, and the honey that seems to me
In her words, "Oh, the chill that gripped my liver!"