1. O you who reproach me for being a poet,
You reproached me with noble morals.

2. Do not be hasty and leave the blame in stupidity,
For poetry is the best adornment of lovers.

3. If there was nothing in poetry but
Praising union or satirizing separation,

4. Or describing a regretful one who remains in a gathering
Neither bored of it nor of its taste.

5. Or a returning melody brought back
By a player, hands exposed at the elbow.

6. It is enough that poetry has strange things
That remain necklaces around necks.

7. Through it every day of separation is consoled
And through it every day of reunion is celebrated.