1. You outshone the gazelle's neck with your neck,
And surpassed it in allure and bending grace.

2. You had more right than the boughs to be consoled
For what is wished from their supple shapes.

3. I do not obey the censurers regarding you,
Whether led astray or rightly guided.

4. You are not one whose hand I ruin my liver with,
Rather my hand ruins my own chest.

5. O you who intoxicated my passion with love’s cups
And drove my glance to wakefulness.

6. And left me a love whose beginnings
Outstrip whatever ends can be counted.

7. I have such passion in me that, were it revealed,
Would vanish, and I have shown it to no one.

8. My passion has ripened into love, so when
It says “Enough!,” my reason says “Enough!”

9. I obtained remoteness from you without asking,
How often I sought closeness and did not find.

10. My first love pact with you turned
My last pact with patience and restraint.

11. O your hair that has helped my night become lengthy
To my onlooker, so wrap yourself up.

12. And you, o cheek, are attributed to softness
Except toward my unfeeling brother.

13. And you, o sickly eyelid, will you not pity
What has chafed you from my body?

14. My heart inclines to sipping his saliva—
How can fire claim any lineage to cold?

15. Is there any blood-money for the slain of cheeks?
Or any firewood for the burnt of brandings?

16. O you whose glance did not return to me
Except with estrangement, constantly fleeing.

17. By God, o my lengthy night, you have
Grown short and can no longer avail.

18. It suffices me and love and you what
Estrangement does to me, so do not increase.

19. O you who forgets my old love-pact
And what other than his love passes in my soul.

20. Where are the nights while you were with me,
When my gaze enveloped you and you were at my hand,

21. When I would call you and you were smiling—
O eye of my return and o lips of my restoration!

22. Today I have tears that seep in my cheek
Like leaves in the palm of a critic.

23. The censurer, the evildoer, has intended for us
Outward advice and inward malice.