1. With the graceful bending of his two sides he sways
The youth sways gracefully, stripped bare

2. Like the howdah, oh how it sways! And the brave one charges
Swaying smoothly, and the gazelle, so graceful

3. I conversed with him while the full moon rose
Bashfully, and the eyelash of a star blinked slowly

4. With a passing waiter, as though
her cup set ablaze a kindled fire

5. As if the cupbearer was swaggering about
In a richly embroidered gown

6. By my father! What gazelle has bowed
To his love except the one who kicked back?

7. An impetuous youth who plays with youth
Sleeps through my night and wakes at dawn

8. A gazelle whose eyes intoxicated me and made me babble
Oh you whose glance is a bared sword

9. Piercing my heart!
If you wish to shed my blood, you have triumphed

10. in obtaining your desire
Or if the path of connection has grown distant

11. Then estrangement is more remote
Have mercy on these tender, sleepy eyes

12. And upon this heavily lidded eyelid
And I shall spend my long night, and the scattered

13. Slumber of my eyes, in your presence
Oh you who binds my heart! In the morning I shall wake

14. and that fair-faced one, so verdant of cheek and rosy of complexion,
With the sweetest lips, cooler than

15. Drinking water for the thirsty and more refreshing,
Smiles from them when he laughs, wearing

16. The adornments he has put on
And an old love which, whenever

17. Time passes, is made new again
I denied him while my body in him grows slender

18. And the tears bear witness
And the staff of separation; whenever

19. Youth inclines towards it, we grow affectionate
And the languor of eyelids which aimed

20. its arrows at my heart and struck true
Verily the ever-flowing serpent slithers

21. Out of your generosity, Oh Muhammad
Oh you in whom is gathered such

22. bounty of creation unparalleled!
The open space, when its gates are entered,

23. is as wide as the outstretched plain
The flowing sleeves replaces

24. Limbs in generosity and habitual giving
Ever ready resolves for

25. good works and persistent asking
Easy of access, he fulfills his

26. promises and exceeds when he threatens
He paved a path smoother than butter

27. by his virtuous character
Above the columns he built

28. higher than old Ctesiphon’s towering walls
And his advancing glory sufficed him

29. against all who came before and will come after
A lion, dark of the thickets, they

30. quake from his awe and tremble
As if he were a holy apparition

31. when he lays down his head to rest
Of a people whose eminent tribe

32. spreads out their extended house
A people whose remarkable feats

33. are numbered amongst the brilliant stars, never to be counted
They drew the pipes of munificence

34. and doubled the ongoing charity
They met wars with every

35. gallant, unarmored belly bared
With faces whitened on the day of battle

36. while their enemies’ faces darkened
Oh you who seeks righteousness, you have

37. prepared your mounts and struggled
Crossing the watering places and battlefields

38. from all sides, moving group after group
Do I seek any refuge or sanctuary

39. other than the Beni Mozaffar?
You have strayed! For benevolence,

40. beside them, there is no intended target
Urge your swift steed to the sanctuary

41. of the sweet faced, graceful king
And when you disdain livelihood

42. then glory in the glory of religion and be praised
He who puts out the burning war

43. whose raging fires have been kindled
In a plight like the writhing ocean

44. he charged against its battalions and frothed
The doves took shelter in him and so

45. shone in his quarters and rumbled
With thrusts of the spear and strokes of the sword

46. the white blades bow down in submission
The venerable leader attacked

47. when his opinion turned to attack, his sword still sheathed
Oh you who has oft-repeated favors

48. and persistent, doubling generosity
A hand like a pouring raincloud

49. of munificence, no, more generous and habitual in charity
Nothing like one who gave till

50. he became poor, who watered till he sweated
His beseecher never attained near him

51. and his asker was never provisioned
It is as if his inquirers appeal

52. to the twistings of Mount Tayma’s slopes
None who boast among his people

53. on the days of pride, and none glorified
Can he seek to attain the sublime aspirations

54. of the outstanding precedents while he sits?
His doctrines have gone astray by a command

55. that blackens whoever it blackens
Take them to yourself as chaste thoughts

56. like unsullied maidens, plump of hip
Like water, save that they

57. have a hardness from the strength of expressions, solidified
They vie with the bounty of your palm, thus

58. are they scattered throughout the horizons
Circulate, and I have chained them

59. So wonder at the circulated, fettered!
And speak praise to the enunciation

60. of a masterful speaker, pleasing absent or present
He praised you so do not persist

61. in praise nor increase and exceed
He strung the necklace of eulogy

62. that rivals scattered pearls
If he said ‘Excellent!’ in statement

63. of your noble deeds and was generous
Clinging to the firm pact

64. generated from your reins
The events of time have intended it

65. with their doubt, as the free are intended
And the caprice of fate cast him

66. aside from tenderness, to be harvested by fate
So the sweet is bitter, the immaculate

67. becomes turbid, and life grows more wretched
And he can indeed be seen enduring

68. when disasters afflict him, showing resilience
And sometimes the sword parts

69. with its scabbard and the belt cracks
Far from you! Do not cut off from him

70. the kind acts he was accustomed to!
So uncover for him the forearm of bounty

71. as was customary before
And gain through him the enduring praise

72. that remains while wealth runs out
Congratulations on the Feast of Fast-Breaking

73. delighted by it, greet it delighted!
You have not ceased to wear the gilded robes

74. of glory, renewable garb
You remained while the doves sang

75. atop the litter and warbled joyfully
The youth’s soul adorned itself

76. with the garden’s mysteries and hesitated happily