1. I knew from the fragrance of the wind where they prostrated,
And where the slanderers mounted and pitched their tents.

2. My beloveds have brought me back to the side of fever,
So I do not aspire except to fever.

3. I spent the night with the two bright stars as though
My pillow were Canopus or my bedfellow Rigel.

4. And Ahwar's eyes and eyelashes as though they were
A moist, softened stick of basil.

5. I looked at his eyelids and at love itself,
And I was certain that through them I would be kept safe.

6. Just as Abraham at first glance
Saw in the sacrifice that he was plump and would make him ill.