1. You left before finishing the farewell cup
Though parting was foolish for one so loving and close

2. It wasn't out of carelessness or disdain that you left
But pressing affairs kept me from attending to you

3. Matters distract the lover from his beloved
And keep the wise from some youthful indulgences

4. I sent off riders who sought rest
On a swift camel rising above the sand dunes

5. They rose reluctantly, brushing off their clothes
Enduring hardship for my sake

6. I went to the edge of the well, its pulley wheels
Like the necks of stallions when the lead mare is in heat

7. Hard wheels to guide the bucket’s shoulders
Connected by strong ropes, platform straddling the pit

8. The water was the color of stale urine
Murky in the stone trough, echoes faint

9. There a wolf howled as if it were
A wanton outcast, bereft of wealth and kin

10. I said: O wolf, would you accept a brother
To console you without obligation or stinginess?

11. It replied: May God guide you, you invite me
To what no wolf before me has ever known

12. I cannot accept it nor do it
But let me drink if your water has some to spare

13. I said: The trough is yours, I left it
With remnants from the buckets and rope fibers

14. It howled joyfully, calling many wolves
While I was preoccupied with my own affairs