1. I yearn for those radiant mornings and late afternoons,
And what little time passed during them.

2. They were brief, as the beginning of life was blissful,
Just as the strides of fate were short-lived.

3. I wore nights like the cloak of youth,
Dragging their train like a bride’s gown.

4. White conversations from a time as if they were
White talks from a time of affection and amity.

5. Filled with every charm for the onlooker,
If only they were not fleeting!

6. By Allah, brief days followed in succession,
Then, when they ended, longer days ensued.

7. As if the nights reckoned with us, then unleashed
The later parts, collecting the remains of the early ones.

8. So may Allah water the tribe and its time
With the rushing torrents of valley runoffs.

9. How often did I hold back in those lands, held back
From the pride of my people by a flirting gazelle,

10. With languid, intoxicating eyes nearby,
Bewitching from afar with glances from a seducer.

11. He distances as a tease, then comes in apparition,
So treat with him, interrupter of connection.

12. Do names prevent our reunion and bond?
While the heart is not barred from what you have known.

13. If I preoccupy people after you, on the pretext
That my love for you distracts me from people,

14. In my eyes is a vision of you, and I only
See your face in the eyes of every onlooker.

15. I say this as the winds of the morn return
My affliction, visible in the heart's arena within.

16. When my soul, your eyes, and the morning breeze gather,
Three partisans dispute over lamenting.

17. Two are sick with sorrow and beauty, and the third
Strives to prolong our separation with messages.

18. In times of distress, how can one seek help
Except from one of a similar nature?

19. If I depart one morning, forsaking my misguidance,
My sword being polished in the hands of a sharpener,

20. How many nights have been generous to me, presenting
A full moon taken by the hands of one who offers drink.

21. The line of his cheekbone borders his visage
As smoke surrounded ripening dates of ‘Asal.

22. The zephyr of remorse roamed about, ceaselessly
Swayed by a fragrant breeze from Khadhib and Nasal.

23. When we drew close, our lips took cups
That hands refrained from taking up.

24. Evicted from life, its evacuator banished me abruptly,
While fate is the worst rejecter.

25. I surrendered to the judgment and suspicion of fate,
And he who does not resist surrenders to judgment.

26. I left my heart behind in my land, lost,
So I departed without a heart, though not departed.

27. And a people, prideful in their distant home,
Reached by the far-extending ranges.

28. When I say “This is an appointed time to meet them,”
The turns of time keep postponing.

29. My friend, I am a water-drawer, but I do not accept
Every watering hole for my roses.

30. I observe people’s states with a side-glance
That lowers the eyelids of the aloof scholar.

31. When I saw that glory was scarcely accessible
From afar, except by the running camels,

32. I rallied the she-camels, and they ambled
Along with the likes of the trudging ostriches.

33. They came with signs of an army, and I never ceased
Remembering, with them, the time of separation.

34. I turn my eyes right and left
At the changing states of fickle time.

35. They said, “A siege has cast its shadow, and with it
The routes are feared cut off.”

36. So I said, “The saddlebags of the riders are packed,
And dire events have knocked at the door.”

37. “Dismount the rational steed, my friend, and depart,
For Isfahan today is no dwelling for the reasonable.”

38. Opinion is none other than our intent for well-being—
Swerve towards it, carriers of litters.

39. Visit the source of religion—a master to aid us
Against the blows of fate, should they befall the gallant one.

40. In his shade is the security of the fearful, and the comfort
Of the restless, and favor upon every superior man.

41. A noble young man whose generosity encompassed
The people of the East and West—none but the attainer attains.

42. The remainder of the glories of mankind, the stars
Of nobility, the unique sovereigns.

43. We journeyed to him while the lands were misleading,
Circling through its wilds and wastes.

44. He never ceased to guide us to him, along with determination,
Until the caravans reached him in the highlands.

45. While we were on humps, their backs flattened by travel,
Enlivened by the singing of creek beds,

46. The valleys echoed them when they walked,
Casting pebbles, while night threw cinders.

47. Their necks took the place of their saddle girths,
And their hooves took the place of campfires.

48. The companions were amazed that they ended up
With you, for they roared at the distance of the stages.

49. They did not drink except the water you poured for them,
At your call, in every dust-colored watering place.

50. Nor did they graze, except in security, in the lowlands,
Among what you established of encampments.

51. Your vestiges have filled the entire earth—
No region of it has a plain left barren.

52. Expelling injustices augmented your piety
And multiplied generosity with abundant gifts.

53. Religious obligations are not properly discharged
Unless the noble man combines them with supererogation.

54. You were generous—how many destitutes you enriched!
And askers of sustenance who had no asking.

55. You brought security until the doubting became secure,
And you gave until the asker became without needs.

56. Gifts of the vanquisher of both east and west, glorious,
And the audacity of the muscular-armed, intrepid.

57. Of a people whose palms do not honor them
If they are not open-handed with virtues.

58. When oaths tighten their fists,
Then virtue to them is only by pretense.

59. I do not praise Ahmed ibn Fadl for his possessions,
Only for his days and merits.

60. A brother of resolute actions, not mere words,
When, one day, the speaker is not the doer.

61. An imploring summoner, guiding them in the land,
With ink blacks and blade whites.

62. A glorious father to whom the land seeks glory
To the guardian of truth, judicious.

63. He protected the religion and world for us—the merit
Of his grandfather, whose brother is not like other jesters.

64. He overlooked the sinners in his forbearance,
And the reasonable of men are not like the tolerant.

65. You have remained for the horizons of generosity in the world
A lofty heaven, in which are its stellar virtues.

66. You were blessed with a rain whose clouds constantly pour
What they contain, and with a downpour of hail.

67. I see the guide of hopes in you giving good tidings
Of a matter—time is surrendering to it through capitulation.

68. It is none other than your resolve to restore
The rights of truth or humble falsehood.

69. So justice will return, encompassing mankind
As they are today in tyranny—God forbid you partake!

70. When God aids you, then care for His servants,
And privilege them—God will privilege you from every terror.

71. You have become too great for what elevates the people
In the world forever—and people are of diverse degrees.

72. And the preoccupation that they seek calls on you,
So take pride in it, for none but you is successful.

73. The nations have known the truth of my words,
For the knowledgeable, in his fortune, is not like the ignorant.

74. The Sultan of Sultans favored you with a position
That the reach of envious adversaries falls short of.

75. And a robe of honor was bestowed upon you, for which
The hearts of enemies were stripped of every dissenter.

76. He clothed you, and the House of God has never ceased
To clothe people with power, the kings of tribes.

77. That ennoblement and towering glory are but
A refuge, next to which are those of lesser significance.

78. But it is for the kingdom, and the house is an estrangement
For true affection—one of the proofs.

79. So the world will be calmed that you are protected
From evil, and fate has cast the enemies into battlefields.

80. The creation is not harmed—and God oversees—
If one sublime lives, despite absence of the lowly.

81. The stars of defamation collapse each night,
While the lights of full moons endure.

82. You are not, by God, in a condition of deprivation,
Because you do not accept disappointing the hopeful one.

83. Your helper is He whose helper you are for His religion,
And your suffice in the world is the turning of tribulations.

84. Whoever is a helper and protector of worshippers
Will not be forsaken by the Lord of worshippers.