1. When I wish, a skilled singer on an ivory lute
With a supple, well-irrigated arm undesecrated,

2. For a fair woman of Medina who did not live
In misery nor follow the caravan of an infidel—

3. I enjoy her on the night of consummation, and my thirst
Is scarcely quenched by her overflowing pool.

4. She stands, increasingly excites me, turns her hips
About me in delicate, cool skin.

5. So I say, “Let me be, for I see death
Standing watch at every lookout.”

6. She is not one of those women sleep rouses them
To trip lightly in interwoven robes,

7. But one Christians collect for her family
And she climbs to the highest appointed roof.

8. A Christian, walking sprightly at dawn
And walking again at dusk, hands weak.