1. It is enough of an illness that you see death as a healer,
And it is enough for death that it be a wish.

2. You wished for it when you wished to see
A friend restored or a reconciled enemy.

3. If you are content to live in disgrace,
Then do not ready the Yemeni swords,

4. Nor make long the lances for an onslaught,
Nor train the spirited steeds.

5. For shyness does not benefit the lion from attacking prey,
Nor is it to be feared unless it becomes ferocious.

6. I loved you, my heart, before your love for one who is remote,
And he was a traitor, so you be faithful.

7. And I know that separation makes you doubtful after it,
So you are not my heart if I see you doubtful.

8. For tears of the eye are a betrayal of their Lord
If they follow the treacherous.

9. If generosity is not granted deliverance from harm,
Then neither earned thanks, nor lasting wealth.

10. And the soul has traits that show if the youth
Was generous in what he did or pretending.

11. Lessen your longing, O heart, perhaps
You will clarify affection for one who is unrewarding.

12. I was created for friendship - if I turned to my youth
I would leave my grey hair grieving.

13. But in Fustat I roamed a sea
Of my life, advice, love and poetry.

14. Barefoot we lingered between its minarets
Spending nights pursuing the heights.

15. With hands, whenever they met sobriety,
They carved on the breasts of the devout.

16. And they looked from truthful, dark eyes in the gloom
Seeing distant forms as they are.

17. And they set up ears for the secret bell
That leave conversing with conscience calling.

18. They provoke the horsemen of dawn, restless,
As if there were snakes on their necks.

19. With resolve the body rides in the saddle
While the heart walks in the body.

20. Seeking camphor, leaving other perfumes,
And whoever sought the sea belittled streams.

21. So we came upon the man of the age,
And they left whiteness behind them and watersheds.

22. We wished the benefactors well for one
Whose kindness and generosity we see in them.

23. A man we never hoped in our ancestors' days
To meet in his time except hopefully.

24. His worth transcended the aid of virtues
So he only does deeds competitively.

25. He destroys the enmities of rebels with his gentleness,
And if they do not perish he destroys the enemies.

26. O father of musk, whose face I longed for
And whose time I hoped for.

27. I met those who pass by and the night clouds instead of you
And I became disconsolate, leaving the water raging.

28. O father of all that is good, not just musk,
And every cloud, not only the rain-giver.

29. Every magnificent one indicates one meaning,
And the Merciful united meanings in you.

30. When people gain heights through gifts,
You give heights in your generosity.

31. It is unlike many that a man visits you on foot
And returns governor of both Iraqs.

32. You have granted the army that came as invaders
To your individual asker who came in good health.

33. And you disdain the world with the disdain of the experienced
Who sees all in it, except you, as fleeting.

34. You were not one who attained rule through wishes,
But in days that resembled achievements.

35. Except you, it sees ambitions in the country,
While you see it in the heavens as a path.

36. You wore its turbidity as if
You saw only the unclear sky as clear.

37. And you led to it every bare swimmer
Who carries you angry and pleases you satisfied.

38. And an outstretched walker obeying your command,
And disobeying if you made an exception or prohibited.

39. And a dark twenty year old you accept when he arrives
And he accepts you in bringing the horses watered.

40. Columns that did not cease to scout buildings
Traveling to them from the land they traversed.

41. You attacked with them the abodes of kings so
Their lattices conversed with their anxieties and pleasures.

42. You are the one who overcomes tongues first
And disdain to overcome tongues secondly.

43. If India levels between the two blades of Karīha,
Your blade in a grip that removes the leveling.

44. And from the words of Sām, if he saw you to his progeny,
My son is ransom for the progeny, self and money.

45. The distance the Master reached is the utmost his Lord granted,
And he has a soul that would not be content except with the farthest reaches.

46. It called him so he answered its call to glory and highness,
While people opposed the inclinations of souls.

47. So he came above both worlds who see him,
Even if intimacy makes him come closer.