1. That night of union I watched the heedlessness of time
It yielded to me its full moon while it was the full moon rising

2. My night companion, a branch of acacia, drunk, not with wine
But the intoxication of youth staggering its boughs

3. I see in it the rising of the moon who
Smiled at its rising, if you will, from a pearl

4. And I string an arrow whose point shone for me, stringing
Poems of poetry, if you will, of magic

5. Her eyes had certainly declaimed the magic of Babylon
Though made of eyelids built on dotted letters

6. And I truly witness that above her forehead
Are verses of beauty that are a surah of dawn

7. And we were in a palace whose balconies shone
Upon a garden that bared its blooming flowers

8. In its seeds pearled the tears of nightfall and dew
And through it the flowers of basil slept smelling of lips

9. The scent of musk escapes her when she sways
Embroidered with perfume from the rain's beads

10. And the melodious hazar bird spent the night singing through her
Melodies and trills in fresh compositions

11. And from that air an aroma wafted
Sweet-breathing, sweet-scattering perfumes

12. O, our night, if you are not fleeting
By your right I ransomed you with a life

13. I trusted you against the coming of slanderers and enviers
With no guard but your shining stars

14. I drew the beloved to my breast in an embrace
And does your heart, my heart, have any place but my chest?

15. O night you revived my heart by his nearness
Reviving it intoxicated till the dawn broke

16. And when I saw the spirit conversing with me
I was certain that it was the Night of Power