1. How imagination troubles you and roams around,
Its orbits for you are memories and flames.

2. It flows with desires towards me, so it excites me,
From the family of Khaulah, all well-known.

3. So I refused, as if I were a Muslim
Surrendering his passionate heart that is stolen.

4. So I refrain from it, it is just that I see
What I cannot attain, for I am chaste.

5. Neither perishing in sorrow for what eluded me,
Nor for the afflictions, however known.

6. The yellowish, sweet conversation, the like of it
Relieves the anguish of his ardent heart.

7. If she were to give, her protector would be spared,
While she below the sky is commendable.

8. She would attract him, a beautiful drunkard,
A Houri whom the new moons obeyed in autumn.

9. Leave her be and flatter her seekers graciously,
When it is time for you to depart and lose weight.

10. A letter inherited by messengers, so its body
Is a disgrace they carry while the heart beats fast.

11. As if her camel litter were from her waist
A sword whose eyelids closed with rust.

12. Or a letter of love from a spoiled scribe
Treated gently by a gathered companion.

13. So when I raise a hand to her, they separate
From the thigh of a curve, with gaps between them.

14. And her complaint, when it wails,
Is caressing and melody after weariness.

15. As if my camel’s girth tomorrow were
One whose meat splitting has eroded.

16. Like a bow put aside for sale by a travelling merchant,
Or a canal placed by the water drawer.

17. Is that so or a shaggy bare woman,
Honest, perfumed with musk and ambergris?

18. Ruddy, whose inside whiteness contrasts
Her two complexions, so it is autumnal.

19. She remained loyal to her husband and their children,
A victim whose flock was scattered.

20. Through her the ruins of tents survive, as if
Through its peg and rope it is tied down.

21. The twitter of partridges flying from his beak
Is debris blown away by gentle winds.

22. And it is as if she were a Nubian while he
Is her husband from her people, ignited with passion.