1. My heart he struck with the arrows of his glancing eyes,
And my heart with the fire of his rose-cheeked beauty he inflamed.

2. So my passion welcomed him when he came visiting,
And my love answered "Here I am!" when he called out.

3. I made my soul attain the object of its desire,
And I guided my heart in its love to find its way.

4. Yet to the censuring heart my constancy was burdensome,
And to my own heart the censor's blindness was grievous.

5. My censurer says of my love "It is caused by some defect,"
But I say "In all the world is there aught but Him?"

6. By my life, a beloved who shames the sweetest musk in fragrance,
And if they ask of him, he is the full moon's perfection.

7. The beauty of my beloved subdues my chiding,
And the chiding of a lover - how painful for the chided!

8. When he is absent, my ear-rings make me wistful,
For in my ear-rings I see the tokens of his beauty.

9. The full moon is distraught with love for him,
And why should it be strange if a brother loves his brother?

10. My kisses only increase the burning anguish of my passion,
Yet I have no joy in not kissing that mouth.

11. I strive to please him, yet disdain keeps him aloof,
And how many who strive to please are intolerable!

12. Why, denier of my passion, do you impugn my sickness?
Can you say this, when you see him there?

13. So the sickness of my body in his presence is evident,
While the love-madness of my heart in his absence is concealed.

14. With a glance from his eye he gave verdure to the cheek,
And with his kiss he revived the rose and watered it.

15. I renounce my passion if for an hour I was unfaithful,
For the passion of lovers has a god for them.