1. My mind was captivated by glances and cups,
O turner of eyesights or pourer of spirits!

2. Intoxicated by the tavern-keeper's coffee and wink,
So cease blaming for the two intoxications, o sober one!

3. And remove the burdens of blame from your livelihood, for
I have not carried your burden nor undertaken your reform.

4. Let me be, if my star prospers in my moon-like love,
To build with my wealth a house of joys.

5. With the jewel of the cup he makes my reputation shine,
A gazelle ransomed by ghosts and souls.

6. And my Turkish knight whose perfection
In his cheeks' direction is clearly manifest.

7. The knights avert evil from him, a place of goodness
With glances and stature, swords and lances.

8. My heart is Abū Ṭālib whereby union never
Ceases from the fire of fervent passion midst tumult.

9. O rouser of the cheek with the red-tinted gold!
Your abode is a needy and zealous solicitor.

10. O you who openly exposes in love an eyebrow's line!
Indeed you have copied my passion in exposure.

11. I cannot forget our tryst even though the eye of passion
Has neglected the pool of the aspiring eye.

12. I faced your hair after turning my face,
So may God ease my despair and grief!

13. Where gladness frowns on the brow of early youth,
Days have not erased the lines of boyhood.

14. And the cupbearer beneath the pitch darkness works
As if he walks with a lamp.

15. And the clouds comply with the cup of spirits, blending,
He almost grasps it, arising with the wind.

16. And now my cup is my tears, and recollection, if
I understand recollection, chants an eloquent chant.

17. O musk of the mole in the basil of yesteryear!
Is the door of my livelihood gladdened by a key?

18. And is there to the land of Egypt a comforting visit
To a questioner shedding tears of longing and fervor?

19. And do I gain the Nile at dawn expanding
That I may drink the sweetness from salty cups?

20. And complain of remoteness at the court of al-ʿAlāʾ
The excellent regent, my pillar and aid!

21. He who said my poetry, “O praised one, which praiser
Do you invoke?” and he said, “Exalt him, which admirer?”

22. The time I spend with Shadha's words
Has mingled compatible tunes and melodies.

23. I plunged into the oceans of virtue, courting them
A diver in the oceans of poetry swimming.

24. Of the house of Yaḥyā an unbroken line of virtue
In them with a strong hand of determined ambition.

25. I distanced the wilderness from the hopes of an aspirer,
Those high ambitions, and brought them near to one who seeks.

26. The competent stood up to serve him willingly, but if they sat
Their regions would stand for him with laments.

27. The wise counselor and guiding pen, praising this one
And that one between Manṣūr and Sufāḥ.

28. Who plans the kingdom secretly and openly
And resolves the matter for fearful and calm ones.

29. And pursues righteousness to grant success
And drives destruction upon the unjust with steadfastness.

30. What an overflowing hand of munificence it is!
And a balanced opinion which kindles the opiners.

31. No shortcoming in it but a shy loftiness
And charm of diction with the slightest of its beautifications

32. Can fetter the tongues of fleet messengers.
And bestowal of rank and wealth despite its abundance,

33. He nurtured and increased it, so we said jestingly: “Enough!”
Son of the successors, at this he woke the life of ʿUmar

34. And took pride in every deep-rooted pillar of the house.
Those hardened with every audacity

35. And whose eyes are unblinking at daybreak.
And those who open realms with their pens, homelands

36. Those realms no resolute conqueror has gained.
If they defend the egg of Islam, they are

37. Lords of the Arabs, stalwart and firm.
Or if they speak eloquently with their abodes and tongues

38. They are people of conveyance and clarity.
I saluted them, O Son of Yaḥyā, thus remain preceding

39. In virtue which contains perplexing marvels.
A branch wound round the heights, originating

40. A root whose glories the eulogies chant between adūḥā prayers.
O you whose gleaming pen pours down

41. Torrents amidst tumult and peace, comforting!
O you of eloquence threads upon robes

42. So virtue is between drapers and embroiderers!
It’s no surprise you originate from garden oxalis despite

43. Being Yemeni, for every Najdi oxalis is biting.
Indeed, I bear witness to other than what I witnessed:

44. Thoughts piercing every deep contemplation.
Would that my poetry did it justice in praise!

45. And would that I know when profits are near!
Prolonged is my fall and removal. Is there a reason

46. For a weaver to grasp the thread of my tapestry?
O master of the secret of my enviers against whom

47. They gained power to cut off my aid!
I would tell them from Jabir news of you

48. And here I am telling it to my healers!
I wish I knew my crime in order to make it

49. A door of lawsuit to one most clement and comforted.
If I know a crime deserving of your compassion's loss,

50. Then I will not relinquish my comforting.
Forgiveness from you has sealed the avenues to

51. A mindset it alone can access.
You watered a soil; had you tended it

52. You would be the reviver with its fragrant bloom.
Without hearing you, one knows what I restore therein

53. Of delicious praise loudly proclaimed.
With your shining righteousness renew, O Lofty One,

54. The vigor of poetry you will find best constructs eulogies!
And may the happy new year greet an exultant solicitor

55. With a total benediction that needs no interpreters!
The year to which we swore by the inscribed three

56. That it is a year of grace and joys.
Good fortune smiles on you therein from ordeals

57. And for the far removed a slaughterer of remoteness!