1. He smiled like lightning when he came into view
Sprinkling the heart with joy until it clung

2. And there appeared to us a messenger whose hair
Was radiance itself, and it was dusk

3. As if his brilliant teeth were unsheathed swords
That pierced the morning, splitting it open

4. So whatever poetry he wove, O Motrif
Pierced the night, making holes within it

5. He appeared, and Pleiades on the sky's horizon
Seemed a cluster of fruit on a plate

6. So he shamed the full moon, dimming its face
While the rising moon's spittle dripped its sweat

7. Suhail ducked into its lair, hesitant
There it lurked on the horizon, anxious, wary

8. The belt constricted his waist
And now it stammers, no longer eloquent

9. His cheeks, the roses their brilliance imbue
For hearts enflamed have watered them anew

10. His mole stands guard over him
Protecting his bloom from eyes that peek

11. So hide his bud with your breasts—give him
The fire of your cheeks has set him ablaze

12. The waters of youth rage within them
Do you not fear he may drown in their waves?

13. The wine has stirred his temperament
And so he seems like a dripping drunk

14. His softness, the curve of his cheeks
Have taught me the bend of a branch

15. And I have spent the night, drunk on his saliva
Without a cup, exhausted from his lips

16. I do not tire of the gentle breeze
But I have left the tender for the harsh

17. He quenched Karakh's land with a downpour
From thick clouds, ceaseless in their drizzle

18. Its pouring mimics the spill
Of waterfalls as they burst and surge forth

19. And so I have no patience for blame
A maid shining with the dawn's first light

20. Yet she brought me nothing but
The tantalizing kiss and embrace

21. We were infants nursing at passion’s teat
Savoring all the juice of its fruits

22. But when the truth of old age came
Youth was nullified, destroyed

23. Her neck bent and passion still unwaning
It persists with the tenacity of a final breath

24. And when white hair surrounded me
I said, I seek refuge in the Lord of the Dawn