1. Beyond piety I yearn for my follies,
And long for my past errors.

2. I weave verses for the beautiful one,
About faults that shadowed my virtues.

3. Yes, my heart was a temple for beauty,
And passion's tales were my prayers.

4. When I saw love as deceit and trickery,
I returned to my forbearance with the honesty of my sermons.

5. Yet she stirred my embers with a disturbing glance,
Revealing the hidden coals.

6. The gazelle of love is an Arab Syrian,
Saying, “I inherited beauty from gazelles.”

7. I spent my youth with the Arameans,
So they are sisters to me.

8. I recognized through her image the features of her mother,
Who was a marvel among maidens.

9. When she speaks, her words are melody,
And when she recites, the poetry has tunes.

10. She gathered charm, knowledge and chastity,
So she is the most dazzling of girls.

11. Her beauties arouse yearning in every heart,
According to the sorrows in it.

12. She is loved but loves no one, for she
Is a flirtatious girl who combines contradictions.

13. She has a goblet like wine in a cup,
By which lovers shine in drunkenness.

14. In her breast is a throne and treasure for a state
Built by Arab armies victorious.

15. The closest thing to what my heart offered her waist
Was a subtlety joined with firmness.

16. She saw her hair as unruly so she cut it as a child
And said, “Now I regret after it's gone.”

17. Had she distributed it strand by strand to us
It would have been of great value and blessing.

18. She shortened what was long like night in sorrow
To take the right of light from the darkness.

19. And when a precious pearl outshone her lips,
Scattered were the pearl necklaces.

20. A curl intended to toss the necklace in the water
But she said to it, “This is made of tears.”

21. Silk becomes softer against her gentle skin
The most delicate necks and complexions.

22. This is so though my hands and mouth never touched her,
But my kind of love has truthful glances.

23. I say to her, though desire weakens my heart:
“With your life, give me back these breaths.”

24. Don't you know the perfume excites me?
So how can I bear the scents on your clothes?

25. Did I sweeten you or is your figure naturally sweet,
As you spread it over your contours?

26. I see the most beautiful flowers gathered in you,
Growing lush gardens in your freshness.

27. Every perfumer complained of declining sales,
And became hated among girls.

28. They say to him, “Sell to others as you sold to us,
And leave a basket filled with trash.”

29. When the perfumer comes, don't breathe,
Or tell the neighbors in private:

30. He will steal the scent that is in you
And spirits will spread it stealthily.

31. The gazelle gave me trouble when I said one day:
“O girl, come give me a kiss.”

32. Her delicate waist has no mercy on the heart,
Melting with breaths and sighs.

33. She inclines with charm, softness and youth,
And is as sweet as water among plants.

34. So I fear she may stumble when she walks,
While my heart near her perpetually stumbles.

35. If she shows anger but consent in her soul,
I intercede through kinship and nearness.

36. For her cheek my soul and my water,
And these two are for the angels and queens.

37. I tolerated the love in heart and eye for passion
Though I could have reciprocated with miserliness to her gifts.

38. So I cry a cloud when the garden laughs,
Confused by the throbbings in my chest.

39. She lit the path of love so she is like a star,
But loftier than stars.

40. She appears in the overlooking palace,
So my heart overlooks from its balconies.

41. And her lamp keeps me company every night,
Playing joyfully by its light without night talk.

42. In the house of the beloved I will remember a night chat
From which I gained the sweetest words.

43. I said the gloom prevents our company,
But she said laughing, “Go along my smile's path.”

44. The melody of a delicate voice and soft tones
Eased my worries and lifted my gloom.

45. So how many secure nights my chatting friend spent,
Seeing gardens and hills around us!

46. Our bodies became one, as if wanting to blend
In the fervor of kisses.

47. But after love there is remoteness and solace,
For nothing lasts in the land of extinction.

48. I see time excluding the heart from what it loves,
And stripping its treasure away piece by piece.

49. As strong winds carry off a bee,
Taking it far from the most beautiful flowers.

50. That beautiful era has passed, yet
Visions of that love remain etched.