1. I deliberately killed myself with passion and intentionally,
Yet my eyes committed no sin, nor did their glance transgress.

2. We both have excuses - mine is my youthfulness,
And yours is that I brandished a naked sword.

3. We loved, and did not waver as others did,
Rather, we increased in ardour and fidelity.

4. Our yearnings did not judge in our souls
Any easier than the rulings of magnanimity and tenderness.

5. Souls that dwell between the sides
That piety built and love chose as a sanctuary.

6. And a temptress whose glance inspired the heart -
So it set upon faith with revelation and transgression.

7. I caught a glimpse of her while the night was unveiled
And her envier in the horizon enticed me to enmity.

8. I walked openly, not taking heed, though they lay in ambush.
Did the stars ever take precautions before being observed?

9. When they saw me, they saw death approaching,
And they saw nothing but embodied destiny.

10. The elder of the group said times have gone bad, so let's be gentle,
For we see a skull wearing another skull as a necklace.

11. We have no choice but to avoid his path,
Lest he raise his sword against us and shed blood.

12. So they all pretended to sleep in order to divert
My sharp youth away from them, though it was sheathed.

13. And I waded through the guts of them all as if they were
Sleepers whom sudden terror had laid down to rest.

14. And I went to where death awakens death
And where the passion of my soul drove me to the utmost.

15. And where the lass of the cheeks keeps watch for my visit
And asks after me every bird that chirps melodiously,

16. And hopes, with the hope of a thief, that gloom
Would cast upon the moon a pitch-black covering veil,

17. And that they would pluck the branches of its crescent,
And from them weave for it a veil, whenever it appeared.

18. So when she saw me with a radiant face drawing near,
And no fear of harm could deter me from my tryst,

19. She called out, amazed at how I had eluded them,
Not having taken any route but the obvious one.

20. I said, “Ask their guts how they quivered,
And their swords - did any hands among them clash?”

21. She said, “I fear for you, their spite has surely
Filled their chests that they will attain their aim against you.”

22. “Do not take their road by the pasture,
For the hunter may be ambushed, even if his prey is in sight.”

23. I said, “Leave what you fear, for I
Have a heart between my ribs that assists me.”

24. She inclined towards me to seduce me, and passion inclined her;
I talked to myself while my conscience wavered,

25. “Shall I heed her as she intends, and recall that I am
Her killer, so her guidance calls me to guidance?”

26. Thus I did not recall you as fortunes collide,
Except that remembering you was auspicious.

27. Prince of rhyme, I have a persistence
In praise, and who do I have in you to reach the furthest extent?

28. Lend me the mount for my praise of you, upon which
You ride, and lend me the matching verse, precise.

29. And command each eloquent meaning to obey me,
And all its recalcitrance to seek affection from me.

30. And grant me from the lights of your knowledge a gleam
By whose brightness I may travel and follow whomsoever is guided,

31. And surpass that arrogant one in his saying
That whenever I speak a poem, time itself recites it.

32. You have plundered the seas of the earth of the pearls of their treasures,
So the seas of poetry have become arepository for pearls.

33. And you have made the prose of the stars in the night sky
Into harmonious verse with the threads of meanings interlaced.

34. And you have brought verses of poetry that when recited
Make people bow down in prostration.

35. When they mention the easy style from it we find ourselves
Like lovers halting or rising.

36. And if they mention from it excitement we fancy ourselves
Seeing the bloodied, unsheathed sword - a reddened cheek.

37. And if I defied my time and its people
With pride in you, I would leave no one eminent among men.