1. I storm the cavalry of time alone
Though I say not so, and with me is patience

2. My well-being grows bolder than me daily
And it is not affirmed but in itself the matter lies

3. I took on calamities until I left them
Saying, “Has death died or has panic panicked?”

4. And I attacked like one who comes attacking
As if I had none but my forehead or a lute's single string

5. Let the soul take its capacity before they separate
For the neighbors' abode is the lifetime that parts

6. Think not glory is food and nourishment
Glory is but the sword and the first steely onslaught

7. The striking of the necks and minds of kings
For you are the black tents and the red-stained hosts

8. And leaves you sounding in the world as if
The fingers of a man passed around the hearing of folk

9. If merit raises you not from thanking an imperfect one
For a gift, then the merit belongs to him who gives thanks

10. He who spends his hours amassing wealth
Fearing poverty, it is poverty that has worked

11. Against the unjust my every arrowhead
A lad whose throat-bag is filled with arrowheads

12. Whirling spear-points around them
Cups of death where wine is not coveted

13. How many mountains have I climbed that bear me witness:
“No mountains am I, but the sea!”

14. And a desolate place where there dwelt Bedouins
We now dwell between the center and the back

15. Playing dice with us in its ridges as though
We were on a ball or its soil traveling with us

16. A day we reached by night, as though
Its horizon bore red sleeves

17. A night we reached by day, as though
Borne on its surface, green robes from its shelter

18. A rain we thought beneath which mighty ‛Amir
Still lived undead or else a grave for him in the clouds—

19. The remnant of his descendant rubs hands with me: Ahmad's son
Bestows though my hands are empty

20. A cloud whose bestowal rivals his bestowal
Upon all clouds it prides itself

21. A knight whose heart grasps not his heart’s intentions—
And if a heart did grasp them, no chest could hold them

22. Storehouses do not profit without his free hand
And what profits if not the palm, plenteous, pure?

23. A conjunction wherein contracts and mighty ‛Amir meet
As the Indian aloe wood meets with Egyptian gums

24. Thereat they brought the forehead’s pact revered
You see the throngs few, though they are many

25. Ransomed by the sires of men—far too precious!
The flowing flood that has no ebb

26. Nor did I cease until longing led me toward him
Conversing on every leg of the trip mentioned

27. I thought news before meeting him too big
But when we met, news was belittled by news

28. To you we charge, attacking all saddle-bags
With every patched coat the necks have met

29. If bit by a small sting, it circles around it happily
As if gulping down the throw of dice on its skin

30. We came to you beyond sun and moon in our aim
Beyond you in your states are sun and moon

31. As if you were the coolness of water—no life without!—
And if you were water’s coolness, the best part you would be!

32. Knowledge, forbearance and prestige summoned me to you
As did this rhymed prose and this free-flowing speech

33. Of the poetry I uttered, its very lines
Whiten with light when written in black

34. As if its meanings were in the eloquence of its words
The stars of Orion or your creation’s blooms

35. And spared me the hatred of getting near sultans
And what their skulls’ eagle would stipulate of me

36. Indeed I saw harm fairest in semblance
And slightest from beholding some small man big with pride

37. My tongue, mine eye, my heart and wishes
I love the maiden whose name half has your name

38. I alone did not say all this verse
But this poetry had in you something of itself

39. And what had some charm in it?
But shown on its face toward you was a smile

40. Even were I to obtain heaven I would know
You obtained not what fate warrants

41. Through you time did away with blame as though
For time itself there was a crime and you, its excuse