1. One evening I met the beautiful maiden in the twilight
She said, "Don't you know where I live?!"

2. I said, "Yes, but within my ribs I have eyes
That show me my stream and gardens!"

3. And you are...you are the one who gives me no rest
With union, nor misery by severing my ties!

4. My inspiration flows from the fountain of creation
Try to match its flow with praise for a few moments!

5. She said, "Passion will meet me for your love
And I long for no other lover!"

6. "Are you not the one who unfurls the rhymes
And does what the expert composer cannot do?!"

7. "Are you not the one who wakes and sleeps elated
With my love, even if I cast it into fires?!"

8. "Are you not the one who was virtuous and loyal to me
With the love of my ardour and chose me with melodies?!"

9. So I said, "God bless you, O essence of my delight
And secret of my inspiration and fervour of my passions!"

10. For you are nothing but life to me, if you depart
I will wither and my pasture and land will be desolate!

11. And the warbling nightingales returned without melody
To a frightening wasteland with nothing but ravens!

12. For you are my eyes with which I gain insight
And you, who let me hear the sweetness, are my ears!

13. She said, "You have honoured and elevated me
To a peak, O pillar of purity and loftiness!"

14. So the beauties were amazed by all the kindness, saying
In poetry, you have become the most verdant garden!

15. And when we consider his thoughts and feelings
He is but a tree taking refuge in valleys!

16. We see him like a crazed madman wandering
Purposelessly, for nothing makes love suffer like madness!

17. So I said to her, wander proudly over the dunes
And boast over them, until they retreat in loss!

18. For you are a moon that stirs up jealous stars
Around it, confused and dazzled!

19. They are jealous of you and resentful of me
And I am not wretched, for I am no devil!

20. I have chosen what pleases the conscience I protected
From the idle gossip that degrades my poetry and mysticism!

21. She said, "I will not suffer misery for your chaste love,
For it was no error that you chose to love me wholeheartedly!

22. Nor was my faith in it misguided,
Nor was it misguided, O you who brings happiness to love in my view!

23. With it I found, after being lost, my guidance
To everything the imaginations conceal, with certainty!

24. And I do not fear any resentment towards me, perhaps
I found light within it in the dark tribulations!

25. So I said to her, "Be happy with this love,
For with it, happiness has met two souls!"

26. I see it as worthy of contentment and its gifts,
And I will repay it with the most precious sacrifice!

27. It rewarded me with poetry, then it was chaste,
Then it made passionate what inspires me with ardent fervor!

28. If it wants nearness I will not be distant,
And if it wants distance, I will be the one drawing near!

29. She said, and tears had risen in her eyes,
Lighting them like a star shining in the eyes of sailors!

30. I ransom you! How pure is your love that returns me
To righteousness, healing me of hostilities!

31. I do not care about the beauties mocking me,
For they are nothing but dirt in my eyes!

32. I am but a free woman whose love
Has purified her. I did not live like sinful women!

33. So I said to her, this is the life that scorns
All my belongings, however fragrant and exquisite!

34. And it triumphs in the radiance of beauty, adorned
With purity, so it is not shamed by flaws!

35. The mirror has shown me in you, O noble one,
A steed whose guidance and affection have appeared!

36. I will sing, and you will sing of love and its passions,
And the sublime love that makes two pens sing!

37. She acclaimed my singing and responded to its melody,
Saying, "You have soared, O little dove!"