1. Let not his handsome image deceive you
Unless his good conduct embellishes it

2. Be not pleased with affection
That appears when adversity tests

3. Who would be pleased to be ignored
How could you be pleased to visit him

4. How much was I deceived by the welcome until
Testing revealed his fraud

5. So I refrained when I did not find
One who stays on course

6. And whenever a disturbing idea frowned at me
I dismissed its illusion

7. And the traveler parts from the one
Of averted glance or encounters his disdain

8. His face clears and glows meeting one
When separators are removed

9. Man has nothing like contentment and trust
As provision

10. And the hand of greed cannot be healed
Except by the palm of necessity

11. And the heart is impregnable, praise
God, from it forming any conception

12. This is a time, I fear
The pigeons may forget their cooing in it

13. Hearts have changed, to the point that
Its gazelle in it almost abandoned it

14. Therefore, individuation has become
Considered a serious flaw

15. And so I was satisfied with a gazelle
Worthy of my love

16. Fearing the contention of fate
Has made it my captive

17. So it is not disgraced in my hand
Nor lowly

18. It refuses to be seduced by the magic
Of the eye if it winks at it

19. Leave this and take some salt that
Repels the vanguards of the changing worries

20. And listen to the elegy of Hurayra
Who used to be my captive

21. The dove stole her life
And took the joy from my heart

22. She delighted viewers
With good morals and beauty

23. She was to my soul when
She was lost an eternal companion

24. Until dawn emerged
Or a bird uttered its whistle

25. She would stand, dragging
Behind her a tail that sways but not the braid

26. Black, she returned haughtily
Like a monk reciting his prayers

27. She loved to sit on carpets
Or on a thick mattress

28. I remember regretting her
My eye was moist for her

29. Yellow, she thought she
Would green during the afternoon

30. Her body was a grain
Of sorghum in the shape of barley

31. Sometimes she would elongate and sometimes
She would appear round to your eye

32. Veiling affection was her evil
And her nature remained apparent

33. And flattering light
Its limits are well known

34. And if she was angry or
Her soul raged, bitter

35. She would depict an enraged lion if she roared
An image save for a growl

36. She was like glowing embers
If the colors of her calm embraced lukewarmness

37. She was to the rat army
A poisoned killer

38. How many books has she torn
Its lines with her claws

39. She became proficient at
Destroying them

40. She tempted them like thieves do
With lame money of a wailing old woman

41. So when they disappeared, it would have been better for them
If they had known the good in them

42. She ambushed them with perfect planning
And was stubborn to any insight

43. So strange is the death of the dead
And stranger is the barrenness of the barren

44. How many mice she menaced and
Destiny uncovered their secrets

45. How many rocks she besieged
But saw they betray no conscience

46. She almost hunted the squirrel
With a simple leap

47. So she learned its moves
Like the flashing lightning

48. She took pride in that she would be honored
Even if the tomb embraced her

49. If adversity touched her
I wouldn't sell her for any price

50. She was too precious for the one
Who sought her and summoned his friends

51. And the birds felt at ease in
Her nooks, even the eagles

52. So let those who are vain take heed
And not ride their pride

53. Their sorrow will intensify tomorrow
Even though its duration is short