1. Alas, who will aid the troubled heart?
Who will help the sick who cannot find rest?

2. Umm Sa'eed is aloof, though meeting her would mend me,
For my adversity lies with Umm Sa'eed.

3. When I say, "Cure the one whose heart your sickness pierced,"
Her long estrangement is my only medicine.

4. Though her beauty brings me blessing when we meet,
I find no joy except in her.

5. She seems to disdain any gift or harsh word from me,
As if mischievous jinn in my heart provoke me to forget

6. All prayers but a few since she occupies my thoughts,
Leaving no time for friend or stranger.

7. I spurn Sa'da's affection however brightly it shines,
Even when she intends intimacy for us.

8. For I seek only the virtuous habits of Sa'eed's family,
Having desired no others before.

9. Every person has a goal; the soul has its limits.
No illness but illness will find good will.

10. When her eyes flash, their scent travels far,
Lightning that never strikes arid ground.

11. Of calamities that befall the youth, her glances are the least—
Lightning softer than young hyacinths and pearls.

12. I envy everything that touches her though I am not,
Without loving her, an envious man.

13. So if you blame me for singing slave-girls, say to him:
"Live a single day when I am not alone!"

14. I drank it till it yellowed like saffron
At the sound the singer's yellow wraps make as they drag.

15. A lovely woman the death of warriors cannot breach—
The roar of lions following lions.

16. As though a prince sat veiled while eyes
Awaiting his view flock to him.

17. I roused the doves of her breast when they rested
And they came having spent the night wakeful.

18. Heavy of body and fair of face unique among mortals,
The eyes of an addict, the color of none but her.

19. She passes by gently, her collar lifted high.
What a face she has there, so beautiful!

20. She is not lavish toward commoners with plaster and tar,
Nor raises the veil of the lowly.

21. As though a sorcerer's tongue speaks with her tongue,
Bewitching eyes with a voice like steel.

22. As though gardens were scattered in her speech
Though some of the nomads are uncouth.

23. She repeatedly kills and revives our minds and hearts
After they despair.

24. When she speaks our swords ring out, and for us the echo
Shouts like armies attacking armies.

25. We spent that whole day in her shade, as though
We dwelled in paradise, everlasting.

26. No harm done, though we were exposed among her family,
For our minds were not composed.

27. When the night grew dark we returned cheered
By living with them in friendship.

28. Though the enemy unsettle our abode
We are no less playful than the youth at rest.