1. If only you had seen the youth, O son of Buzal,
With the branch of the willow when its showers returned me,

2. At the foot of the salty creek when the religion of the lover
Is fulfilled, and the best of union is in its beginnings,

3. You would have seen a day after much emaciation from pining,
And after my praise of the house, sweet are its features,

4. And a day adorned like the thumb of a bracelet,
Dazzling my eyes overcoming its invalidity,

5. By my soul, he who, if the coolness of his fingertips
Passed over my liver, their touch would heal it,

6. And he who denied me in everything and I gave freely to him
So he will not give to me and I will not ask of him,

7. When he sees me approaching he casts down his eyes
As though the sun's rays compared to me are facing him,

8. Oh, how wonderful your eyes are, O mother of Shanbal,
When the kohl in her eyelids flows, pouring,

9. May all the mixed perfumes ransom you
From the preparers, whoever meets and questions them,

10. So we met her, Um Shanbal, one morning,
And she made us cry in the evening, her fires kindling,

11. And I was as if, when her words were farewell
And goodbye, the covenant’s fulfiller was carrying it,

12. A hostage with myself, its shackles were not loosed
From the leg until the sword of its killer stripped bare,

13. So he said “Let me prostrate twice”, and his innards quaked,
Fearing harm, and his joints.