1. I kissed the lips of my beloved when she named you,
So I kept on kissing until it was as if I were kissing you.

2. Out of love for the mention of you in my hearing and in my heart,
Even if the mention of you wounds my heart.

3. Rebuke me and turn me away if you wish, and judge
The souls - for beauty is yours alone.

4. And prolong my torment in loving you, perhaps
My standing with you will be prolonged on the Day of Resurrection.

5. In your mouth is wine, and in the bending of the branches is flexion,
So nothing turns you aside except your own inclinations.

6. I did not cry because I was lost in you,
Except that the burning of my heart had made you its home.

7. Though I did not say, "O source of its burning,
May it delight you today, for the heart is your pasture."

8. O tears of mine, which I have lavishly spent,
No wealth has availed against such loyalty and righteousness.

9. O you who kissed her cheek,
The faces of lovers have come to accept you.

10. However much we ask, we do not ask our nights,
And however much we forget, by God, we do not forget you.

11. We almost meet you when you come to mind,
As if your name, O Sa'di, were derived from "meeting."

12. And we complain to the birds, blaming them for parting,
Though the birds of passion are only your carriages.

13. We knew you for days and habitually complained,
Oh, would that we had never known you!

14. We tend to your pacts in ease and travel,
Like the tending of Ibn Ayyub to the state of the wretched complainant,

15. The learned king, the traveling ruler -
May God guide him rightly in the land, between the orbits.

16. He of whom the Most High said, because of his favors,
"God belittles him not in tribulations."

17. He has conversations that enrich every barren soul
And reveal every confused mind.

18. Clear between the threads of dusk and dawn,
As if they were pearls among necklaces.

19. It is enough for you, O State of the Supported King, that
You have the righteousness of the wilderness for one who has given you virtue.

20. For you is horsemanship and authoritative legal opinion,
By God, what excellent things has time brought you!

21. You revived what died of knowledge and generosity -
So may God increase you in virtue and keep you alive!

22. Who can gather what you have gathered of nobility
In the two horizons, or rival your efforts?

23. Let al-Mu'ayyad forget the affairs of those forebears
Who preceded him in the kingdom, between Wahhab and Fattak,

24. The counsel whose wisdom complains of the sharpness of arms -
Thus is the sharp sword called "the complainant."

25. And the generous gifts which smiled their smiles,
And the rain signals the lament of the weeping cloud,

26. Say to the full moons, withdraw into the clouds, for
Ibn 'Ali has effaced your beauty, O mirrors!

27. If you claim to the people that I have maligned you out of rancor,
Then my call against you has proven true.

28. O you, the guided king, whose friends and foes
Are towards curtains and diving into seas,

29. If you were to meet the Abbasids, you would be victorious
With a vanguard in the darkness of grievous affairs.

30. Victorious ancestor, from fortune and lineage,
Insightful of the hidden righteous path.

31. Your steadfastness in the world united in purpose raised you up
And my means in you transcended deviation and partnership.

32. My hands have not opposed your gifts
Except to return with the pure profit, the acceptable harvest.

33. Truly, when the generous attempt to hunt them,
The houses of glory become like nets.

34. A water-pourer for your life - no failing hand
Suffices it, nor any description reaches its limit.

35. One who fears holding back provision withholds it,
While you spend it fearing withholding.