1. My soul is sacrificed for one who draws near or pulls away
Wary of backbiters yet desiring like an ascetic

2. His tongue holds back in love though his heart does not pull away
My master your words miss the mark yet your spirit overflows with loyalty

3. I see your aloofness feigning coyness
While your loving glances bear witness

4. Yours is a blessing I cannot repay
That you inclined toward me against your father’s prohibition

5. If all the worlds opposed me
It would not hurt me if you were my ally

6. And if hearts come together in passion
They undermine the schemer’s tricks

7. When you shunned me my heart said
And saw you lying in wait to ambush me

8. The beloved was cold yet in his coldness I saw
An excuse—I do not blame my beloved

9. I despair, when I see your estrangement
As the sick man despairs of his healer’s return

10. So let us conspire and afterward
Every deceiver will strike cold iron

11. I will be envied and hated but he who attains
A union like yours can endure envy

12. In the place of a thousand no single one leaves
Though a thousand would be honored for one

13. Your perfect qualities—the buyer’s delight
Among the stars—and you have Mercury’s form

14. When I see you I see a paragon
When I know you I know a compendium of praise

15. By God I do not seek union out of doubt
Or not—if you took my hand in yours

16. Rather for the goodness of correspondence and flirtation
Communion and conversation and poetry

17. That was the passion of wits though passion
Has gone rotten in this decadent age