1. I rejoice that I suffer in your bonds,
And that you are in my dearest place,

2. And that I am weak in your love, though I feign endurance,
For I am enduring towards the young.

3. My shoulders bear the burdens of misfortunes
That your hands have loaded upon me.

4. You have firmly held my leading rein and never
Would my bridle be held except in your hands.

5. You went far away and so my eyelids are forbidden from seeing
And you urged the tears of my eyes to flow.

6. Before we parted, my heart used to obey me
But on the day we bid farewell, it disobeyed me.

7. My heart was always inclined to patience
Whether we were united or separated.

8. So why on the day we parted did it impetuously
Set out with the traveling party, suffering with me?

9. Would that a doctor had made my eyelids sick
And that he held their cure to heal me!

10. Would that my love-rival were but one
So I could be relieved of his constant wooing.

11. Had it not been for love, O clan of Khanssaa
I would not be enthralled among you

12. Nor would I ask in your abodes for shelter
Other than the spear or be seeking safety.

13. I hope for the generosity of a miserly palm
And fear the cruelty of a cowardly sword.

14. Before you, I never set my resolve on any goal
And attained it except by the edge of my teeth.

15. One like me is more suited to having
The saddlecloth of a steed as his bedding, not the bed of a steed.

16. My self-respect disdains that I should pay off my debts
By begging, if it were not for my beloved exhorting me.

17. One whose honor and religion are his support and ally
Will not rest his shoulder in humiliation

18. Nor fear the vicissitudes of time, nor will
The whims of fate find a way to him.

19. A young man whose kindness and pardon
Have become habitual for one who wrongs or treats him unjustly;

20. Whose hopes approach like rainclouds
Of generosity pouring from his hands;

21. We used to hear the accounts of generosity
But today we see it before our eyes.

22. Of far reach, bringing gifts of dew, so modest
Praise God for sending us the humble petitioner.

23. A light whose flashes spoke truly to slanderers
Though not every flash speaks the truth.

24. He refined the morals of the nights and restored them
To heartfelt affections after aloofness.

25. He renewed the vestiges of noble deeds after
Four of their people had become faint.

26. We used to hear the accounts of generosity
But today we see it with our own eyes.

27. Of ample gifts, drawing near with humility,
The distress narrowed and gifts of dew

28. Were his excuse whenever he bestowed generously
In times of scarcity and complaint.

29. A generous man - when I seek his aid in some matter,
He suffices me even if I am shot from a loaded dice.

30. The bounty of his palm bridged the gap between my state
And wealth, so he remedied my affairs and time.

31. Through his resolve I gained sway over the days
With a Yemeni sword, white when drawn.

32. A neighing steed of noble stock, whose deeds
Resemble the nature of the brilliant dawn;

33. He shows you dignity in his gifts, as though he were
Shamarakh of the garden or the slopes of Aban.

34. An opinion that fells the pretentious, and a resolve
Entrusted to sincere and wise determination;

35. And a might tempered by kindness so that his strength
Is mixed with gentleness.

36. How often did he distinguish the heroes on an ominous day
And win the palm on the day of the wager!

37. If I were Ibn Hujr in eloquence
My expressions would fall short of enumerating them.

38. Every person deficient in his efforts toward noble deeds
Is a sacrificial victim for the sake of his glory.

39. He is honored by them with reverence, while beneath their smiles
Lies hidden rancor and malice.

40. The fire of rage burns in their breasts
Though it is a fire without smoke.

41. He aims at his goals without adequate ability
Though the path between destiny and attainment is blocked.

42. Abu Al-Fadl has been granted a position
That levels and topples whoever enviously seeks high rank.

43. With it you have filled the palms of the hopeful so your thanks
Abound with sweetness on their tongues.

44. You have walked the path of benevolence and justice
A walk that settled the inhabited regions.

45. You took upon yourself the burdens of the caliphate
While the incapable sluggard was sleeping.

46. Thus the realms will never lack a resolve
That ponders their affairs night and day.

47. Still the space around you is filled
With seasons of joy and bliss.

48. As a reward for my sincere praises, eloquently expressed,
If you were to elucidate them, they would be most melodious.

49. I guaranteed you the reward for them - my soul
Has secured your glory in that with a binding oath.

50. I circulated them to cross the lands recited
By the camel-herder between verse and tattoo.

51. The precious things I presented to a suitor
I refused to surrender to any but you.

52. For the dear ones of generous men, when
Any but an equal of worth marries them,

53. Become pliant under the control of the noble one though they
Are refractory towards every despicable in-law.