1. O heart bursting with patience, now empty,
O eyes brimming with tears, now overflowing,

2. O soul aspiring to church spires,
O heart yearning for the shores of an island,

3. I've traded companions true for companions new,
And love unrequited for love more suited.

4. Not every pasture sustains the gazelle at play,
Not every dawn brings happiness to stay.

5. Would that fate show me some mercy,
And gather my homelands all around me,

6. My fields of childhood and sweetest delight,
Where I'd dream and romance from morn till night,

7. As though no roe had grazed there, rising just for me,
To offer me violets and bloom from each tree,

8. I remain, even if but to reminisce,
About days of bliss in that lost paradise.

9. How many carefree days have we whiled away,
Drinking 'neath the stars on carpets we'd lay.

10. To music and birds we would dance and sing,
Taking pleasure in each God-given thing.

11. And for the fairest of all, my love I professed,
Answering the soul that my own soul had blessed.

12. Of delicate expression and voice serene,
That calms every heart and delighting each ear.

13. How I envy the roses that dare brush his cheek,
Or the vines that caress where his glances seek.

14. He gifted me a glance that set my soul aflame,
Where can I find apples to give him the same?

15. His imaginary tryst makes me pine and yearn,
For meetings destined never to come or return.

16. My love wears a coat of mail like warrior of old,
Tempered with wisdom more precious than gold.

17. We saw him as Joseph, beauty touched by the Divine,
We saw him as Solomon, destined to reign and to shine.

18. His cloak contains secrets of love we unravel,
Reading truths from his face that confirm and enthrall.

19. He's my faith, my Kabah, my pilgrim's desire,
Remembrance of him is my life's goal, my temple entire.