1. You remained steadfast though you were worn by the ruins,
Resembling the generous horses and the slender gazelles.

2. The young does replace hissān with wara’,
Yet not every gazelle is made for poetry.

3. Where is the shyness of the graceful fawn
When she meets an eye in the morning or evening?

4. Had those with ruddy complexions been present
The tales of the fair one would not be told during leisure.

5. The wild cow has no resemblance when it is adorned
If only its squinting eye were content with kohl.

6. How many submissive tears overflowed back then
Accompanying what cheerful people composed of gentle songs.

7. And noble souls whose virtues we cherished
If their morning drinking had not continued.

8. I ransom her who angrily left us,
So my passion said to my heart: “Set out after her!”

9. I was happy to follow the tribe’s traveling,
Carried by a soft-flanked horse, swift as lightning.

10. It attacks the fearful with its sword,
Wearing armor and grasping the spear.

11. When I reached the first of the caravan traveling
I took hold of the lead rope of the speeding rider,

12. Trying to turn her back though the horse refused,
With the bells ringing between its ears.

13. Until when she drew near enough for my hand to reach
Even if it stretched out it could not attain her.

14. She said—while the steeds of passion robbed me of patience—
“And the sun of her anger in the grip of the child:

15. “Are you Joshua? Do you want me to turn back
When I have set in a sunset the color of wounds?

16. How many, short of pulling the forelock, that day
Thrust with their spears at the flanks of the horses!

17. I sheathed my spear when love for her overcame me,
And both our hearts became insensible to reason.

18. I said: ‘Meet your death in battle by a hero
Who will meet his like in love from a hero!’

19. Today my heart has turned me back and chided me,
My friends blamed me, and the censurers fell short of censure.

20. I have doubled my endurance upon my chest,
And I do not care about the gaze of spies.

21. With David’s coat of mail my heart is armored—
If your glance has become one of the clan of Thu’al.

22. Leave my heart that you have long tortured
To seek glory instead of passion!”

23. O rider, fill the entrails with thirst
Like fire, though the horizons are devoid of rain!

24. Leave right and left—they are futile—
And go straight ahead, seeking the end of the roads.

25. Know that when I say “Turn the caravan back,”
I swear it is not by the glory of religion.

26. The sea has many names, but best known
By convention among the hopeful is “the hand of Ali.”

27. In each of its handfuls, when it flows
Seas of dew flow for the desirous, dripping.

28. A single drop of it would water all people
If it flowed alone, but its abundance never ceases.

29. Let him who wishes to look on the essence of perfection—
Say to him: “With the cheek of the Dawla, adorn yourself!”

30. He is the most clement, noblest sultan of mankind;
By him kingdoms are exalted like pouring rain.

31. If he travels and thereby marks the world with honor,
He brings life thereby to the land, plain and mountain.

32. He protects his glory thereby from usurping hands
And his rule from hands that would diminish it.

33. However much one who undertakes work observes,
He cannot conceal a condition or give hope to the hopeless.

34. Thus the succession of days turned away from one prudent,
By whose opinion the world was cured of sickness.

35. And we came to have a state whose triumphs
In his hands became the most perfect of realms.

36. He directs it, his resolves those of a sagacious past,
His pens beyond it sharper than swords.

37. The hopes for his future are bright; his doors
Are always open to the people, like a kiss.

38. One who examines his dignified aspect will see
A towering mountain moving like a drawn sword.

39. If he travels on horseback, the air is dense with dust;
If he settles, the earth teems with encampments.

40. Courageous, on a marked, he seems
To beholders Saturn in the sign of Gemini.

41. He has a cowl, fine clothes, a clear complexion,
From which five torches hang on their edges.

42. It is as though he is water of the dawn:
When he performed ablution, he did not rinse completely.

43. None before has seen the sun rise over his horsemen
Or the full moon passing through Saturn!

44. By God, the back of his palm is too glorious—
Its least generosity shows you the sea as insignificant!

45. It is a tear that if you seek its favors
Gives you more than wishes, then says: “Ask!”

46. I am amazed by a pen in the hand of one so generous
Lavishly spending in munificence, busy with thought.

47. It shot the arrows of my needs without mistake
When it inscribed a parchment without error.

48. It raced in that field writing me
What, stored afterward in memory, cannot be surpassed.

49. It did not dictate to my mouth upon its hand,
Rather, its generosity dictated to my hopes!

50. Indeed you were greeted by one whose resolve
Did what my tongue afterward did not express.

51. Your kindness revealed the time’s shortcoming—
In springtime, roses bloom from buds.

52. A people we asked but who did not give, though able,
While the ransom of the generous gave without asking!

53. I have risen above those who did me wrong
Until the fangs of youth retracted.

54. How ignorant is he who was stubbornly opposed to me
Until I yielded, refusing to oppose him!

55. You relieved my heart from anxiety in my defense
With proofs you presented to me and all who hear are in awe

56. Until you bestowed on me the honor of association,
Achieving every desire—which have you not granted?

57. You made me the trainbearer of the revered one,
While I would have been content with the outer hem!

58. The elite of the age were pleased altogether
By what you did to spite the lowly.

59. So may the state of our Master the Minister endure for us!
And may you remain in the shade of an unchanging rule!

60. If you follow convention beginning with recognition,
You are not stingy after bestowal, never withholding.

61. Power and wealth—if you alternate between them—
Are like combining irrigation with keeping camels.

62. They have come to you apportioned directly;
Their precedence is from a mindful of your love.

63. When the generous man’s sympathy is repeated,
It inclines like the full one made to listen.

64. So take from me, thanking freely, an improviser
Who has said of a doer of good, himself improvising.

65. Listen! For that is unmatched praise,
And look! For that is unmatched loyalty—

66. With poetry a people take pride, yet he takes pride in me,
If counted among my famous words or deeds.

67. I swear that if not for meanings that require it,
My nature would not be inclined, nor my disposition.

68. It does not please me that my thought should ever
Be seen distracted from my deeds, having other concerns.

69. If they had permitted in days gone by, I had hopes—
Yet for the people tomorrow I am their hope!

70. My perfections have urged me to depart with them,
And only the robe of reason remains.

71. I have unfinished chapters left, so rise to them, O Ali,
As you rose fully to the occasion!

72. In closeness or distance, consider the matter of a youth
Whose affairs rest on you alone, after God!

73. As for fasting, it is like an honored guest
Whose time to depart for your abode has come.

74. So enjoy it traveling with blessings completed,
Returning in a thousand years afterward in prosperity!

75. Count with your palms recurring holidays,
When the howdahs of night distress the camels.

76. Let my praise of you endure eternally—
If you heed it, it will have a life without end.

77. Poetry audiences have snatched it up in rapture
When it is recounted, whether shortened or prolonged.

78. Remembrance is the best provision for man, so take it
As a glorifier of you, not futile.

79. Make your freely given honor a protection
All time long for honor not freely given.