1. I was not the first keeper of a wasted love,
And betrayal from a beautiful one is nothing new.

2. What's past of the days of my youth -
If only they would allow us to return!

3. If only the nights would repeat themselves,
Restoring our gathered lives again.

4. Suns setting in darkened chambers -
If only their disappearance heralded a dawn.

5. My eyes did not weep blood the day we parted -
Except that my tears had already drained me.

6. I bid farewell to my loved ones, and oh! What
That moment of parting did to my heart!

7. They left with an intoxicating glance, their hearts
Wounded by what my soul and ribs endure,

8. A glance that makes even the healthy scream -
Would that it had spared a heart it broke!

9. She said, "Can you be content if I visit you in dreams,
So you spend the night in imaginary union?"

10. But she would not permit even the ghost of her image
Except to dominate my waking reveries.

11. O Salma, love has surrendered me to the passion
Of longing for you and being obsessed with you.

12. Your sweet lips, O beautiful one, have seduced me -
I spend the night in the madness of desire.

13. O you who reproach me, though now my heart is deaf
To all but its own fervent call.

14. I am enraptured with her, while Majd ad-Din's love
Is ever obedient to the reproach of palms.

15. I am a king towering over other kings -
Noble of lineage and highly esteemed.

16. Glory dwells beneath my lofty dome, and aid
Rests upon my appointed throne.

17. If you behold the lightning flash of my sky,
You can dispense with every flaring torch.

18. My wealth is plunder for ruffians, and my neighbor
Shelters in an impregnable stronghold,

19. The affairs of my kingdom empowered by counsels
From one worldly-wise and greatly experienced.

20. Restored by his management from neglect
And loss, until poured forth in his courtyard,

21. Into a bosom vast as the rent firmament
And spacious as the water-logged plain.

22. How often has he shielded me from the cunning of foes
With the striking blades of his able hands!

23. A band aspiring to supremacy -
Their zeal surpasses the fleetest runner.

24. Valiant warriors brandishing swords -
Too proud to stoop in surrender.

25. They soared to the height of glory, heedless
Of hardship and tribulation.

26. Their days marked the brow of Time
With the beauty of their deeds and work.

27. We were revived when generosity was eclipsed
By a faith bringing fresh life to palms.

28. No shame to their origins from their branches,
No defect transmitted through their line.

29. Keen of scent when called to battle,
Rising tall and sturdy for the fray,

30. Brandishing sharp tongues and shields,
With an onslaught from their counsel and armor.

31. Through the grandson of my companion I found solace -
Not in my nature to seek comfort in diversions.

32. To him I poured out my complaints as if
He were a drain for my misfortunes and woes,

33. And I clung to the refuge of his dreaded power
And might, whose hands rain favors,

34. Till my meadows grew verdant and flowered
With the bounty his hands bestowed on my pastures and hills.

35. So it was as if his virtues blended
The tides of the sea and the gardens of Spring.

36. Through him I was safe from the striking adversity
And joined the ranks of the unvanquished defender of Islam.

37. I confronted tribulations with one who cannot
Be matched by days however adverse.

38. Of ample favor, you are praised if granted success,
And pardon if you meet refusal.

39. My champion against the tyranny of an unjust fate!
Nobler than I can say is my intercessor -

40. If my palms are dry, you are my refuge;
If my land is arid, you are my Spring.

41. For the thirst of my hopes and the zeal of my stead
Without you, would never taste fulfillment.

42. Listen, O noble one, to a poet
Who recites his rhymes for you,

43. Bringing you a pearl thrown forth
From its shell by a fount gushing clear,

44. Like a bride whose dress exhales a fragrance
From the praise of you it carries,

45. Coming to you adorned with figures of speech -
Paronomasia, parallels, and assonance,

46. Joining the chastity of a noble woman of her clan
To the modesty of Nahid and the gleam of lamps.

47. So rule, gathering the realm under your protection
In the shade of an enduring union,

48. And judge the world, obeyed in command,
Following custom and sealing decrees.

49. No dawning storm heralded abundance,
No lightning writhed from the clouds,

50. No full moon rose from the belly of darkness,
No dawn emerged from the rim of gloom,

51. When you gave me good tidings with your auspicious presence,
O embodiment of all I hope for!