1. The sorrows I have endured have brought me success,
And the night, for after it is the dawn.

2. Let no despondent speech of one who hurts
Dishearten you, though it wounds you deeply.

3. Women are difficult, then amenable,
The formidable turns possible after first being impregnable.

4. How can one who sleeps fretfully the whole night through
Enduring a wakeful pillow, rise feeling refreshed at morn?

5. Said the lover, his secret need divulged,
And the doctor, a balm for his heart when it was cut.

6. Why does your day give you no joy
That you may live that day refreshed and halcyon?

7. I answered him with truthful words
That even an enemy might believe, though given to rancor.

8. That my beloved has folded away his visit;
Thus I lament what he has suppressed, though I long that he bare it.

9. I grieve for one whose company I cannot do without,
Whose love dwells in my heart, though he abandon me.

10. When he wearied of me and my discourse of him
He turned away.

11. My tongue attests to my passion for him
And my tears attest each time they flow.

12. In my abode I knew misery
I loved him and he rewarded me with estrangement.

13. Would that I had never known him, after he left me -
Would that I had kept my distance, for pure and refined was he.

14. O my heart's remoteness from his affection!
He has become reconciled while still no reconciliation between us.

15. He once granted me his youthfulness
And I held fast to his love when he bestowed it.

16. Then my good fortune changed because of his nature
To hardship, so that I toiled as never before.

17. Happy though deserted, she does not add to my misery,
While I despair, pierced by passion's arrow.

18. Wretched the heart that cannot show her steadfastness
Until she jest and make light of it all.

19. And the watchful eye seems to offer sincere advice
While giving none.

20. She sealed my heart with her seal
Then blamed me for loving her - how ugly!

21. I believed him, and lied to him,
Until he pledged me his troth - and gained nothing thereby.

22. Do not tempt me with love while still a youth
Whose life is before him, though he vie.

23. For my heart is held suspended at one melodious throat
After the wine that for a moment glistened bright.

24. Had God added to her sweet intimacy
A love fine as the gleam of a grain of mustard seed, I'd fear

25. Lest sadness expel me if ever it soured
Or gladness if she drew near.

26. Passion has been renewed, and I renew my quest for her
To save me from a life grown burdensome.

27. No other has importuned as I for her well-being,
Whether youth or grown mature.

28. My heart forbade thoughts of her
But increased my blindness whenever it raged.

29. Would that fate brought us back the days gone by,
Those days that slipped away.

30. When my way in to her was furtive as I stole
To meet one whose bracelets graced a slender arm.

31. The scent of musk betraying her softness
Brought me back to life whenever it wafted.

32. With a necklace around her slender throat,
She swayed gracefully back and forth.

33. I cannot forget our meeting place or her friendship,
Or the barking of her white puppy when it barked.

34. Her hands were laden with jewels, adorning herself
With hearing me and my hearing her - that made us happy.

35. Till she took the reins and inclined toward them
Crooning a melody that mingled with their neighing.

36. The soiree ended, those there fell asleep,
While she handed me the ewer and the wine cups.

37. She would divulge secrets then conceal them again
Under cover of darkness, showing no shame.

38. But when her sheltering darkness lifted
And the songbirds awoke and rang out,

39. The dawn chased away a lovesick dreamer
Who craved the intimacy of night, if it would incline.

40. A cool drink for her on waking heavy-headed,
And the scent of her breath when it was sweet.

41. I passed the night at the abode of the fawn-like beloved only
To have her snatched from me at dawn.

42. A love that with the passage of days has not waned,
And I still desire union with her, no matter how remote.