1. Is it the fragrance of the House of Mayya, or an impassioned lover?
Unbridled steeds without provision, unrestrained.

2. Our saddles still weigh down our mounts, as if
They were firmly strapped and steadfast.

3. The messengers claimed our departure would be tomorrow,
And the raven-black courier told us this.

4. No welcome or greeting for tomorrow,
If it brings separation from loved ones.

5. The time of departure came, and no farewell to Mahdada,
The morn and eve were my appointed time.

6. Because a singing girl shot you with her arrow,
Striking your heart though she did not mean to.

7. She sang of that, as they were your neighbours,
With a message of affection and courtship.

8. And she had struck his heart with love for her,
With a well-aimed arrow from Marwan's back.

9. She looked with a kohl-darkened eyelid, fluttering,
More bent than the bentest of bent eyelids.

10. With verse arrayed like the necklace adorning her neck,
Molten gold blazing like leaping flames.

11. Pale as an oriole, perfect in form,
Like a branch in its prime, supple and swaying.

12. A belly soft and slight, its surface smooth,
With prominent breasts the fingers could grasp.

13. Steadfast in the saddle, not tossing about,
Bareback rider solid in pose.

14. She stood to be seen between saddlebags,
Like the rising sun on its brightest dawn.

15. Or a pearl inside an oyster shell,
Dazzling to behold, inducing prostration.

16. Or a marble doll raised up high,
Built of baked bricks, interlaced and checkerboard.

17. The kerchief slipped, and she did not mean to drop it,
So she caught it, sparing us with her hand.

18. Dyed a cheap red, as if its fabric
Were gossamer, almost too delicate to knot.

19. She looked to you with an unmet need,
Like a sick man looking to loving faces.

20. Dawn lit her pair of doves, cooling
With gentle tread, barely rippling the water.

21. Like an ostrich flock the morning after losing its sky,
Their tops and bottoms dried of rain.

22. The passions claimed her mouth was cool,
Sweet to kiss, delectable watering-place.

23. The passions claimed, though I never tasted,
That it was sweet, and if I tasted I would say "give me more!"

24. The passions claimed, though I never tasted,
That her saliva could quench the most raging thirst.

25. She took her necklace and strung it together
With a sequence of contiguous, aligned pearls.

26. Had she displayed it to the devout hermit,
Who worships God with great devotion,

27. We would have seen, from her charm and pleasant talk,
And her tattoo, wisdom, though he was not wise.

28. With a speech, if you could hear it,
The nearby mountains would soften from its impact.

29. With an unsheathed, well-built, sturdy leg,
Bent like a vine leaning on a pillar.

30. When you touched, you felt something crouched and ready,
Holding its position, filling the hand.

31. And when you stabbed, you stabbed into one experienced in combat,
A seasoned horseman, perfumed and embroidered.

32. And when you pulled away, you pulled from one who fortifies,
Like stripping millet stalks at harvest.

33. And when he bites, his limbs constrict
Like a full-grown man, mute but intent.

34. He nearly strips the skin of whoever he wraps around
With a blistering grip like burning embers.

35. None who approach can evade and leave,
Nor any who arrive can evade and depart.