1. O my enduring patience, how time has worn you down,
Renewing the pact of yearning in the abode of love.

2. You let the water of union flow in the dust of estrangement,
So the branch of love blossomed in the garden of contentment.

3. You wanted, by renewing passion, to recall what had passed,
Bringing to life the pact of love in the wake of sorrow.

4. You uncovered the cloud of betrayal from the moon of loyalty,
So the light of union shone amidst the darkness of abandonment.

5. As if you saw the passion in me,
So you shared my afflictions as I shared your trials.

6. The stars of despair revolved in the sky of hope,
And the breeze of longing blew in the harbor of wishes.

7. If my despair dies in me while my hopes still live,
I have grasped in its glance the rope of hope.

8. Whenever my soul recalled you,
My tears rose to my eyes, pouring with weeping.

9. You join me for a while, then abandon me again -
Oh, how much parting has led to reunion!

10. I see passion as guidance in its love, and yet
I am content to complain to the best one to complain to.

11. Have you not seen that I sold my pride for humiliation,
And obeyed what you desire for obedience’s sake?

12. By the life of love I have not turned from what
You promised, but all things come to an end.

13. He came radiant with the water of youth, as though
He brings the water of beauty flowing in his cheek.

14. When he faces the ugly night with his face,
I see you the radiance of dawn in the darkness of night.

15. My glance refused to leave his glance -
If I tried to turn it away, it would not turn.

16. I compare his cheeks to his cheeks when there appeared
My saliva and both curves of my cheek.

17. When the sword of his glance is unsheathed,
No human has a glance that did not die by it.

18. The softness of his cup refused to touch the heart -
It was too subtle in grace to compare to passion.

19. As if the remnants of his vanished loved ones
Were traces of dew above roses from the wetness.

20. And the regret of a sincerity that said to me after slumber:
“Give me a cup for my burning thirst.”

21. So I handed him a cup and he responded in kind,
Meeting my good offering as he inclined.

22. Destiny protected him as if its eyelids
Were a guardian for him against destiny.

23. And a night whose length I shortened
With winds that mock the water for its purity.

24. The eyelids of drinking in it dried from the wine-skins,
So they drank until their heads

25. Seemed from the drunkenness on their necks
The constellation of the wine-skin.