1. The messenger's torch came to me,
My eyes and heart in agony.

2. I bid them farewell while my heart between them,
My throat overflowing with tears.

3. They left, and ruins were created after them,
As if they were a book inspired with revelation.

4. If your abode becomes desolate and uninhabited,
In my feelings there is a place for you.

5. If you intended to turn away from me in anger,
My heart cannot be turned away from you forever.

6. O you who brings death to my heart, patience is difficult
And its means are cut off and my hopes connected.

7. It would not harm an inflicter in love if she united
With one enslaved, madly in love.

8. Coquettish, full-breasted and bashful,
Weak, neither short nor tall.

9. Tender-limbed, soft-gaited damsel,
Radiant, with cheeks like anemones.

10. Her brightness dispels the darkness of night,
As if her moon was a lamp in the dark.

11. She said when I said, “Is the joy of union more delicious?”
“Let me be, you have attained joy and the wine of union is adulterated.”

12. I walked away while meteors shot across the horizon,
As if they were gazing eyes of onlookers.

13. She bid me farewell as I walked my camel, my companions,
A she-camel, rosy-necked, of perfect build.

14. Haughty, brisk, like a bouquet of flowers,
Preferred over others for her high stature.

15. As if she were a preacher, honorable in manner,
Steadfast, firm-limbed, sable-colored.

16. Or mute, cleft of lip, with chipped teeth,
Pouty-lipped from the bridle, disabled.

17. Or piebald, made ugly by branding,
Branded on the cheek, marked.

18. She is like my camel after departure,
Her saddle-bags torn by rubbing.

19. Withered, bleating, preyed on by wolves,
Howled at by foxes and jackals.

20. I returned exhausted, weakened by exhaustion,
Not roused by the night visitors.

21. A warrior who marched with the regiments,
My shout acclaimed over the excited throng.

22. The white, the dark, and the excited know me,
And the night, the horses, and the waning moons.

23. And if a wayfarer visits me, I have generosity,
Never confined by sea or river.

24. My honor is protected from stain,
My hands extended to those in need.