1. O the bliss of dreaming in the slumber of youth
Telling of the eyelids of Roman girls in languor

2. I've spent the night sleepless in thought
You appear to me without worry or agony

3. I've cast from my long eyelashes snares for her
I hunt the phantom of the beloved until she ensnares me

4. I saw myself in a place I do not recognize
If only I had known it before and were not there

5. In a gathering with beautiful faces blooming
More lustful and brilliant than dates in a platter

6. They recited the finest, loftiest poetry
As birds chatter on a branch

7. And there presided an old man across from a youth
Who kept glancing at me from the corner of his eye

8. I saw the prime of his life bid farewell
Yet his beautiful face remained ever youthful

9. His brilliant gaze reveals a magic charm
Gleaming like the traces of bliss on a structure

10. And he was clad in the hut of weavers
In silk, wool and cotton fabrics

11. He appeared among them, their eyes on him
In a gaze that made me swoon

12. Like a flower among bouquets of blooms
More splendid than all to the beholder

13. As if he were a Bedouin elder in cities
And you know the Bedouin elder in cities

14. I was tempted to inquire, for curiosity
Together with asking leads one astray

15. So I approached a youth unknown to me
And said “Who is he?” He said “al-Nasiri, the Yemenite”

16. “Greetings my soul’s delight,” I said joyfully
And I embraced him longingly and he embraced me

17. “Greetings the best refined sir, pillar and friend
Witty, wise, forgiving, calm, sharp of mind”

18. “Why did you deny knowing me
When you're the friend of my secret and public affairs?”

19. He said “If my state is one you're content with
Then look, for you have eyes and ears”

20. “I was summoned for something I thought
Would never befall the dead in their shroud

21. And nothing hurt my heart but parting with one
Whose loss is like the soul leaving the body

22. I left him in Ribat al-Fath waiting for me
O you who the proximity of Ribat al-Fath entices me

23. Had you seen him with the lute in his hand
You'd sell your life and the hereafter for nothing

24. When he sang I said the warbling branches sang
If only the warbling of branches came from branches

25. I said take heart, for there's no shame in this matter
A life without trials is worse than trials

26. A man in sorrow must have some joy
And in joy he must have some sorrow

27. His tale horrifies me before its spectacle
As if it were a story from past times

28. I accepted their invitation as yearning pulled me
And I traversed the plain lands and sorrow

29. But by your right, who is he that made
The heart detach from you, ally of passion and agony?”

30. And his tears nearly swept me away
I seek God's refuge from the sins of the suspicious

31. His tears almost ran from his eyelids
And had they run, they'd run like pouring rain