1. Load reproach into the sling,
And turn your fiery face to one serene,

2. If the smooth path is blocked
By a coquette who makes blocking the road lawful,

3. With my father a fire quencher if reproached,
Reproach only fuels the blaze,

4. Firmly tied are the knotted ropes of calm,
And what a knot is his cinched waist.

5. Cast by the caster of amiability from water,
But his cheek from wine,

6. It is right to take off finery from it, for there was
No sincerity in taking off finery,

7. Had the skeptic seen it, he would not have doubted
It is evidence against the skeptic,

8. When visiting, wearing the veil of a dear one,
I ransom the veiled with the dear one,

9. Wearing such slenderness of waist, he cannot
Wear the slenderness of the erect rod,

10. Dragging the raiment of silk, but
In the silk, a thickset body,

11. We drew near, the approach of an ailing, faint one,
When he approaches a gentle doctor,

12. And clung like the clinging of a drowning one
To another drowning, clinging creature,

13. And I observed him, and the meaning of beauty
Had surpassed in him every subtle meaning,

14. His face was a graceful springtime,
When spring inclines to the graceful,

15. His body a gentle breeze,
Softer than the softness of a gentle breeze,

16. The wearer of aquamarine, he paused
Between pearl and ruby,

17. A son of ten and some ten, seemly
In wearing puberty without being ripe,

18. When his rashness transcended the rust of money, and not
Transcended did it the restraint of mankind,

19. He is a child, or rather an adolescent in a state
Between button and duck,

20. With a creation that entices the line and knot
And for a time the cup and jug,

21. Free-reined does he lead caprice,
Not led by the hand of realization,

22. My friend why have you become my enemy,
And one who is not my enemy, not a friend?

23. No amender is he who blamed me, and no protector
He who did not blame me in his love,

24. Tears streamed from blood, an eye
Did not weep for me when I shone bright,