1. The dove longed for you when it cooed,
A youth remembering its companion and so finding solace.

2. Would that the dove might complete its kindness to me
By lending me its wings as well.

3. O you who migrate but whose memory of me does not fade,
If only the one you miss would come closer!

4. Do you think I can be patient when my wings
Are filled with wounds from being far from you?

5. My longing for you from afar has grown
To a vast desert—if only I could cross it!

6. By God, my tongue concealed its passion for you
But my tears in private betrayed it.

7. Comfort was difficult when at the break of dawn
On the day we parted, morning bid morning farewell.

8. Valiant horsemen on thoroughbred steeds
Raced their lances over the dunes.

9. Had they fought the gazelles instead with their swords,
They would have been the most expert wielders of weapons.

10. The one with languid limbs—you’d think his cheek
Was a lamp, his temple a torchlight in the dark of night.

11. He has an irresistible beauty and charm,
Refusing to bow down though the youth is master.

12. We were intimate friends in chaste seclusion,
Communing without need for goblets of wine.

13. Wine which the cupbearers had tasted themselves—
We avoided it while they had not.

14. God has beloveds whose apparitions came
To dispel sorrow from my eyes, so removing it.

15. They betrayed me, so their words turned bitter in my hearing,
And when they traveled away, they remained sharp thorns in my eyes.

16. So it was as if someone had called me and I’d answered,
Though acts of kindness still seemed ugly to me.

17. How much hardship and ease there was,
Yet I found no shrinking coward or exulting victor.

18. I conversed with each group in their own language
For a time, like someone shouting into an echoing void.

19. I held back my soul from praising every eloquent woman—
For the noble one’s affection makes the litters lurch.

20. Calf-worshippers have now become the idol of every fool—
So my poetry threw away its tablets.

21. Until I came to you, O heart of the world,
With my lofty requests, hoping for success through you.

22. I saw one praised as even the exalted were pleased with him,
So I was content to be his panegyrist.

23. Hearts are ransomed for the heart of a time
That never ceased to yearn for its superior minds.

24. At ease with them when near, and longing for them
When far away—always yearning.

25. The pillar of Islam’s house since the day he entered it
Was a man whose life the centuries failed to wear away.

26. Because of him, Yathrib prospered continuously—
He expanded it further and further.

27. The most judicious of judges in every kingdom,
Whether seeking glory or comfort.

28. Awake—God made his keen insight
Subtle, to unlock the secrets of the unseen.

29. I cannot measure the knowledge of people today against his knowledge,
Like one measuring pitch-dark night against the bright dawn.

30. He inherited erudite forefathers one after another,
And because of his inheritance, excellence outweighed all else.

31. They passed away as noble souls, and after them
Only a sparkling pool was left in the valley.

32. His virtues were beautiful and pure in the world—
And the narrator of great deeds recounted them flawlessly.

33. When the narrator of his praise recites,
It is as though fresh, fragrant musk exudes.

34. A king under whose banner scholars walked—
So the sanctuaries of the misguided became permitted.

35. The Creator subjugated spirits to him,
Even if He had not subjugated spirits.

36. Whenever he signals to hold a majlis,
The apparitions return eagerly with yearning for him.

37. As for kings, they long to kiss what his feet tread
Out of yearning for him.

38. They cull opinions and insights from his wisdom
To gain accessible victory over aggressors.

39. They see that when the time and its people decayed,
He set right religious and worldly affairs.

40. Your deeds surpassed those of our ancestors
When you made heads fly and toppled others.

41. Your arguments accomplished what their swords did,
Spilling blood and clearing the land.

42. May a jealous rival who envies what you attained
Be your ransom against the trickery of fate—

43. A foe who stands on tiptoes,
Hoping to pluck a shining star from the sky.

44. Beyond you he desires—though you appeared to his eyes
By God!—the ignorant are so insolent.

45. Next to the sun at dawn he rubs his eyes,
Blindly seeking daylight with the dim light of stars.

46. You were the one who elucidated for the nation of Ahmad
The shining path of Ahmad’s religion.

47. When they saw your magnanimity was like a raincloud,
They raced toward you on swift steeds.

48. So when will my eyes gain tranquility
By seeing the sun of your kingship draw near?

49. When will I listen to the gems of your speech with my ears,
As your proximity enlivens my spirit even more?

50. Khuzestan was desolate until God clothed it
Through you with a robe of honor.

51. Do not disregard its conquest due to its small size—
I urge you by the life of your eminent father!

52. It was the encampment of your grandfather Al-Muhallab
In the days his armies thrust with spears.

53. He forcibly expelled the Kharijites from its lands—
Exile which brought lamentations over them.

54. Likewise, pursue their trail in the kingdoms,
Pursuing corruption so that integrity spreads.

55. If I saw a humbled nation in the wilderness
And I could make it prosper, joy would depart.

56. While you avoid indignity through the likes of it—
May God ennoble you!—since nobility comes easily to you.

57. Whenever I ordered the virgins of my poetry to praise,
They refused, aspiring only for your match.

58. So rouse in them some praise whose prerequisites
Were fulfilled by the downpour of your generosity.

59. I postponed my compositions so I could be
One who offers his service before the delegations.

60. Out of love for myself—not myself, so that
I may one day see it heading off to you.

61. My feet envy my pen if I prepare it
To compose and improve writing.

62. If I were able, I would speak of it and outrace it,
Traveling to meet you at dusk and dawn.

63. Rather, if I were able—and I cannot journey—
Due to the vicissitudes of fate that caused me to stray.

64. I would make the dot under the letter ba of “In the name of”
Yearn to gaze upon my book when it begins.

65. So it might see the face of a human—my eyes first—
Before reading, radiant through your splendor.

66. Respond to my service with a noble answer,
Rewarding fine initiatives by clothing them in light.

67. The least right I have is that when I come to your doorstep
And rub my cheek upon it, I find acceptance.

68. Neither has the darkness of my youth’s night
Shaded my cheek, while today white hair has crowned it.

69. So I went from white to white serving you,
Hoping to prosper through this lifelong devotion.

70. Now is the time! Hear my call swiftly
To help me—my life under duress has strayed.

71. Nothing remains of me but the evils of fate,
Unless your generosity rescues me from ruin.

72. You owe it to Muhalib and the Prophet’s helpers—
When you examine it—an obligation made clear.

73. Your generosity surpasses the bounty of the heavens—
That you might bestow without effort a wing upon me.

74. So permit my hopes which I request,
O son of the lofty ones who were generous to kings!

75. Bear the importuning of the one who relies upon you,
For they saw the paths to your aid are smooth.

76. Grant me honor in response to my advice,
And strike the envious soul with terror.

77. Spite an envier in you who becomes
A container of the urine of time, dripping forever.

78. Do not heed every sincere adviser’s advice,
Listening in order to ascertain the truth.

79. Weigh people in the scale of reverence for God’s law;
Lead mature men and Lords of the Mace.

80. Strike the flint of reason—do not yourself
Kindle the spreading of ignorance and folly.

81. Offer praise persistently, making its defects overflow,
For that is the most profitable deal, with much gain.

82. Stay constant to the lofty as long as a loving companion remains,
An ardent lover racing with the night.

83. The spring made the birds speak until their inarticulate chatter
Became, in thanking it, eloquent language.