1. I kindled the heat of fervor, and the night had cooled,
O you who stirred up passions, then calmed!

2. I lit a fire of yearning that had not been extinguished,
So draw water and restrain tears that were not frozen.

3. O ruler of love - your commands
Are still carried out among people, whether he intends or aims.

4. Is it in your noble law, O my wise one,
That I do not cease to be the companion of cares, alone?

5. Or is it in passion - that he who guards its mysteries
Would dry up, even if he does not find dryness lasting?

6. If this is allowed, then in love, is my blood shed
Without sin, reason, or punishment?

7. And my soul was granted to one who makes it suffer at night,
And deprives of stinginess one who gave his hand to the doves.

8. I know, my ransom is you, O you who turned away from pleasure,
Who knows nothing of fate but sadness and frowning.

9. When you feel comfort, I am in distress because of you,
And when you sleep, wakefulness has not calmed.

10. Abstinence made him get used to it, until he said
“If the excess illness did not spare him anything but avoidance.”

11. We hear from his bedside
The moaning of one who yearns, but we see no one.

12. He is tired of life and its habits tire him,
If only he were allowed to return to destruction and return.

13. I see love as one in itself and I see
The ways of destiny on the paths of passion as many.

14. I have been tested in the love of one whose lover was hard on me
With jealousy that did not leave me any composure in love.

15. I resisted sleep while creation slept in panic
That one who slept might see his phantom in a dream.

16. But no - he was jealous of him if fantasies represent him
Or if thoughts wish for him even if he is far away.

17. But I have not seen people's eyes glance at him
Without wishing I had never existed.

18. The gazelle was infatuated with the magic of his glances,
So it loved him passionately from the heat it found.

19. And since the garden’s rose saw his cheek,
Withering appeared on its petals out of envy.

20. They did not mention his stature by the lines of separation
Without him leaning by yearning or bowing down in prostration.

21. O temptation - your ailing glances tore my liver,
So they ripped my hot liver, so endure!

22. My heart was too narrow for the melting fervor within it,
So if he wanted more of it, he would not have found any.

23. If I was made of rain water I would have solidified,
Or by air - even if a bit of me had ignited!

24. Or if my passion was with the People of the Cave, they would not have slept
And they would not have seen in it anything but thinking and keeping still.

25. Fervor sought help from patience but defeats it
And do I see my tears, while tears are all gone?

26. The suffering one unjustly died of his illness
And the burning heat of his passion did not cool down.