1. No blame upon their inspiration though it seemed impossible,
When youth departed to seek youth he was most eager,

2. They set forth while my heart raced after them,
At dawn it trailed the caravan through the darkness.

3. They took paths in the belly of gaping lowlands,
Along trails where the highborn never tread.

4. They shed tears in their resolve till I wept,
And kindled for their noblest passions the fieriest flames.

5. How I yearned in their love till my bones protruded,
When love takes hold, discretion is of no avail.

6. And they acted heedless, though my counsel was sincere,
If I chided they but gained in defiance.

7. The leaves tossed me about in longing for them,
While the lightning in darkness called to the clouds.

8. O brilliant glimpse that gleamed from their dwellings,
Ripping through the gloom in a blaze of adornment.

9. You revived in recalling them such piercing sorrow,
And set both my eyes and heart trembling.

10. Come, unfold their tales that I may find solace,
For my malady grows the more it is doctored.

11. Mayhap their words will heal the secret longing
That festers all the more as it's tended.

12. Why does my heart swoon for the days of youth?
Each time they pass it shakes with greater fervor.

13. From their throng sprang a drunken, bewitching thrill
And I gathered in their midst a wreath and crown.

14. The garden envied their scent at dawn,
And you'd think the branches whispered together.

15. Ah, that tribe whose love has left me distraught
In passions so pure, no joy compares!

16. They left my body and heart amongst them
However the riders' course may veer and swerve.

17. Could it be they knew how I languished in gloom
Like a lantern lighting their gatherings with rays?

18. Or did they guess that when we met thereafter
The sweetest nectar was now bitter aloes?

19. For they are my hopes' fulfillment, and their fame
Spread its wings through the lands in liberty.

20. Time has not changed them, nor have their days
Ceased to display the blissful laugh of joy.