1. My friend, if Buthainah says "Why has he not come?"
Tell her "He came though not promised, so blame him not."

2. He came, preoccupied with important affairs,
And he who spends the night tending his flocks, mistakes.

3. Buthainah adorns herself with the gazelle at dawn,
When she appears no day remains without beauty.

4. She has dark eyes, pure and perfect in nature,
As if her father were the deer or her mother the doe.

5. She has slain me with a killing affection,
And how many has she slain with the love they bear her!