1. O sailors, for God's sake steer carefully,
Repair my sail and rudder properly.

2. Deliver your gift that cheers me hourly,
And pour me cups of wine continually.

3. Set sail for Qabīşah, where in the villa,
My sorrow's cured by joy most willingly.

4. And when we've finished up our travels fully,
Make way to vineyards ripe and ready hourly.

5. And land me at old wine preserved entirely,
Made pure by years, not Jewish ritually.

6. Then drop anchor by the monastery,
That I may join in talk with monks so holy.

7. With gazelles whose scripture we read yearly
At dawn they're sacrificed most willingly.

8. In modest robes that under them hide merely
Branches God made into limbs so comely.

9. They circle till, when they face us directly,
They bare their breasts and crosses, kneeling lowly.

10. So soft their skin, that one might think nearly,
An absent love returned quite willingly.