1. The dawn of my birthday found me
While her father prayed in the mosque

2. Our lips met despite the envy
Both our hearts weary and sad

3. Gada did not fear her father's warning
Nor cared for her brother's threats

4. When her mother said "get up and milk the ewes"
For an hour, come with me, do not sit

5. She wore her sleeping brother's cloak
And came to guard me as clouds loomed

6. Crazed for her father, she marched for the crazed
My aching heart, my wounded liver

7. What crossed my mind made me
Grieve for her pallor and frailty

8. I said, spare her, tears are precious
Tears for the soul, not the body

9. We leafed through and folded pages
And scoffed at the tales of gossipers

10. We thumbed through the book of memories
A moment, and the tender wound healed

11. Then she said, with the drizzle of rain
That confined the birds in their nests

12. Bring the date wine, O soldier's son
This town's wakefulness cannot be endured

13. Bring the white from the wine of Iraq
How many legs has it made wobble, cupbearer

14. Let's drink it together before we part
Then she got up and wore her cloak

15. We broke its seal, good luck be upon it
Poured it over the whispers of the breeze

16. We passed it round and the sheikh's nose objects
We drank it and did not stint

17. A wine that elevates the generous soul
Gets one drunk in paradises of bliss

18. My kiss was my cup, my beloved my boon companion
How sweet is the wine from that hand

19. A beautiful hand that gives the poet respite
Of a sense that captivates minds, a sorcerer's

20. So a radiant brow and a languid eyelid
And a mouth that tempts and disheveled hair

21. Oh, the sight of a poet quenching his passion
Serenading her with fertile melodies

22. And the sight of Gada slaking her young thirst
As she gives him drink, how often she said, more

23. We sobered up when our reason returned
She sang our love, how not?

24. The universe brightened, listening
To her gentle, affectionate, warbling voice

25. We embraced, oh those moments!
The secret of life, nay the meaning of life

26. Whoever saw us lying in stupor
Ah, if only it were eternal sleep

27. We sipped the wine of kisses
Left sleep to the sly flirt

28. And talked about the future
And lifted the veil off tomorrow's world

29. We awoke to find the sheikh arriving
Both of us calm and content

30. We parted, let various claims arise
So the refuge of the sinful aggressor burned