S HE :

Under my Koufa veil I bring thee flowers,
And fruits still powdered with the sun's gold showers.

H E :

All the gold of Soudan is on thy skin,
O Well-Beloved! ... The sunbeams gaily spin
Thy hair; and no Damascus loom could weave
A velvet like thine eyes.
S HE :


Behold! At eve,
When the warm hour of dusk propitiously
Opens his silky arms, I come to thee! ...
The light air dances in the limpid night;
And leaves and waters murmur our delight!

H E :

O my Gazelle of Night! O my Surprise!
Darkness is dazzled wholly with thine eyes.
Ah! Let me plunge into them and emerge
Drunk as the bird that revels in the surge.

S HE :

Come nearer! Take their roses from my lips.
Then, when my body from its chalice slips
Slowly, I shall, from head to heel, at last
Be naked but for thee ...

H E :

O Unsurpassed! ...

S HE :

O my Beloved! Behold! The secret fruit
Of my moon-flesh, thou knowest, has the form
Of the ripe date. Come! ... Thou wilt hear the bruit
Of seas where birds are drunken in the storm!