1. Oh Aharith, reproach me, though I ramble on,
And chide not my sleeplessness which makes me fade.

2. My beloved's house drew near and intervened between us,
So I awakened miserable and tormented.

3. When I wanted to visit, there was a cursed tent,
And I avoided giving him my love, so he avoided me.

4. Oh Aharith, life's taste is unpleasant when
My beloved draws near, though once he was intimate.

5. A woman said, “Why do I see you downcast
When you used to enjoy life and were joyous?”

6. I said, “Passion walked through my joints,
And I desired a girl—would that she were more proper!

7. Those who censure passionate love watch over us,
And none lived happily before us who watched.

8. If we don’t enjoy our youth, then we are miserable,
And none who enjoyed their youth grieved for us.

9. None exhausted pleasures except a worthy man,
Who, when he desired, did not remember those who enjoyed their youth.

10. So do not watch for a lover whose only care is
His loved one; do not ask me about strangers.

11. Maybe you both underestimate passion
With a glance of the eye, or you both want amusement.

12. The emaciated man blames you for love—and if tomorrow
He fell ill with love’s malady, he would not mind mother or father.

13. Oh Khushshab, my waiting has been long, so show kindness
To a man who calls doctors, utterly exhausted.

14. He is smitten with yearning, so his eyelids have thinned,
And he knows no sleep but tossing and turning.

15. He sometimes sees estrangement in his worry,
And if he considers estrangement, he refuses and denies it.

16. He is possessed by madness from youth that played with him,
And he had not acted madly as a passionate youth.

17. He desired you until you became the obsession of his heart,
And he disobeyed the righteous by avoiding you.

18. A sweet-scented white girl pleased his eye,
She saw great passion for you in me and gasped—

19. What she did not see is even greater than what disappeared.
Oh Khushshab, my heart once had a wound

20. Of longing that no one who enjoys life could heal.
When its pus was pierced, out crept

21. Scorpions, and then more scorpions.
How long until we meet and speak

22. Of our secret love that branched out in the thickets?
My soul is torn every day and night,

23. Hopeful of you, adorned with trinkets.