1. I saw no dwelling after nightfall
More pleasant, were it not for what we fear.

2. I fear the guards assigned to watch it
With their polished mail and spears.

3. I asked her, "How do we get in?"
For night was fading and dawn cooed like a dove.

4. She said, "The keys are with the chamberlains,
And eunuchs stand guard at the doors.

5. Shall we force entry with swords?
Or gently pick the locks, though a vigilant guard keeps watch?"

6. I said, "Seek some other way,
For affairs have means to unlock their secrets."

7. Perhaps He who lifted me up will let me down
To earth, if the time is not ripe for His decree.

8. So she brought long ropes and leaned
A frightening scaling-ladder with concealed rungs.

9. I grasped the ropes, though the course of events
Rests with God, who smoothes the difficult paths.

10. I said, "Sit, for standing is dangerous,
And tie the ropes tight, though I risk my neck."

11. When I said I had reached the floor,
My ropes shook on a fearful, tottering pole,

12. Set up tall as vultures seem small from it
And small seem the stars in the sky seen from it.

13. When my feet touched the ground, they asked,
"Are you alive and safe or one we should mourn?"

14. I said, "Remove the ropes lest anyone notice!"
And I slipped away into the darkness of night.

15. With their guidance I dropped eighty cubits
As an eagle with darkest feathers swoops down.

16. In the morning I sat with the tribe, while guards
Were locked outside, unable to enter.