1. You yearn for the gazelles and jest with them,
And flourish with them while the soul is made gentle by jesting.

2. If you are laden with vileness and shame, O youth,
I marvel that the ground does not quake.

3. O you who waste the garment of piety in amorous sport,
To what end does modesty expend itself for you?

4. For ample deed with bounty and brightness,
Your reward, by the life of God, O boon companion, is most ample.

5. If the deceit of amorous sport is a scorpion,
Intending mischief thereby to my people, then I abandon it.

6. I must, O people, descend into the dust,
Though I had above the two skies a dwelling,

7. If the white and the dark bring us no succor in the fray,
Then a stick and a spindle are better for us than they.

8. Foul in old age if the white-haired toy with love making,
And fouler than they is the cloistered monk turned amorous!