1. They denied me the surrendering imagination,
So there is no union except what is fancied.

2. How can the specter of the beloved appear, if the eyes
Do not shed tears or the youth yearn?

3. The night has pitched its stars like tent pegs,
And draped my eyelids with its darkness.

4. He whose home was al-Thuwayyah,
Now abides in the outskirts of Iraq in gloom.

5. Whenever the caravan of breeze passes by,
I waylay it for news of my beloved in sighs.

6. O night of Najd, your morn returns not,
Yet he in seclusion smiles at me in languor.

7. The darkness was rent by the light of radiant Ghada,
Illuminating what had been obscured.

8. When her face and the full moon appeared in their beauty,
None can tell which of the two is the moon.

9. I swear if not for the touch of her saliva’s coolness,
The embers of my cheek would have blazed.

10. And if the bitter mention of her did not give me pleasure
In my ears, I would not have borne her blame all my life.

11. O my friend, when longing took over its guide,
It inspired my heart and became decisive.

12. Our steeds carried us to demand the song
From the singer, raising their neighs rhythmically.

13. And under night’s veil, that son of murderous valor
Concealed his love, whispering surreptitiously.

14. So tilt your mounts’ necks forward into a gallop,
Hoping to alight at the dwellings in alarm.

15. The resting place is empty but for the caravan at its center,
For Salma, so if you grant me success, convey my greetings.

16. Sa’d blamed us the day our mounts mingled
When we departed from him, fearing his discontent.

17. And a snarling, growling mare carried him off
At the lead of the pack, fearing the forbidden herd.

18. You see in the reverberating voice an attentive ear
And between the whip and reins a watchful eye.

19. When he saw that the malady of love had afflicted his companion,
He surrendered himself and passed in acquiescence.

20. O you two intimates, if you do not oppose
My nature, then say: sever the rope from you!

21. The diversions of time are many,
So place nothing before the important.

22. The opportunities of life are but on loan,
If you did not know that, then know it now!

23. May God disfigure the youth for whom hands were created
Yet has not extended a hand to help them.

24. Eyes on a time which confounded with its calamities,
And a yearning which overpowered my heart at dawn.

25. I stood amidst the ruins of the dwellings
Like a picture of grief upon the mourner imprinted.

26. And the dainty hand of Pleiades embroidered
A mantle fringed with rays upon the ground.

27. And the dew dripped its tears upon it every morning,
As if it flowed from my own watering eye.

28. The clouds’ generosity is no habit,
But know it is from my tears they learned it.

29. Would that my eyes and thoughts never desist,
Scattering pearls plentifully, ceaselessly.

30. For the owner of my heart by love, and my owner
By the favors I knew which brought me bliss.

31. I scatter for them the strung pearls of weeping,
And weave for them necklaces of praise with skill.

32. Rising to the highest pinnacle of glory,
And gaining from treasuries of praise their fill.

33. In the shade of the mighty Faith they gained honor,
Thus they dwell in the heavens of might like stars.

34. When the realm complains of its pillar being bent,
The soundness of their counsel makes it straight.

35. To them, it is equal if the keen mind strips
For a new event, or the sword unsheathed for fate.

36. The steed of generosity runs without end,
And with wisdom, their might makes epochs submit.

37. When men share glory in an assembly,
Some gain a portion while the rest get crumbs.

38. High-minded men whose time was devoid
Of any virtuous peer and so became unique!

39. A caravan has departed before, leaving after them
A river brimful with crowds from their torrent.

40. Leave off praise, O people of the age, and its glory,
For they were not created but as bracelets and amulets.

41. The crescent appeared, a star rose, destiny decreed,
Clouds gathered, a hillock stood tall, a lion roared.

42. Each day he rises higher than the one before,
Forever towering in the heights sublime.

43. He is the towering hillock, bearing all you load upon him,
If the rod does not break, bearing only what it can withstand.

44. I was, and the events of time were shifting about,
At times lagging behind and at others preceding.

45. So here I am, when my time decided its rein,
It made me cast the excess of my passion and so cast off.

46. The steeds have come to you like the white-footed ostriches,
Bearing the arrows of my passion in their quivers.

47. I deemed everywhere but your sanctuary in the land as ignorance,
And came to you when you were the signpost of knowledge.

48. To serve your eminence with a eulogy from my thoughts,
And return from my sublime only your scattered rays.

49. That if my mounts visit the son of the praised Hamed,
I would return to my enviers with his favors humbled.

50. So victory, Abu Nasr, to an exalter in you,
Over fate, though it be found morseling him greedily!

51. The utmost I hoped in reaching you,
My enemies see me as food for them to devour whole.

52. I came to you without extending in your presence
A hand in praise, nor opening in illness a mouth.

53. But when I saw you were the Kaaba,
I came to you by every lawful way a pilgrim.

54. You have attained from bestowal and virtue such a station
That the eloquent stammer before you in dismay.

55. I am shy in praising you with the shyness of a diver
Repulsed by the deep sea though he dove to plumb.

56. And the sea’s gullet suffices over the composer’s necklace,
And makes unnecessary what he has threaded and strung.

57. I came to you, my praise plagiarized, reciting it,
So you listened to me with a knowledge that honored.

58. As if you in your towering summit hearkened
To an echo that lent hearing though you spoke not.

59. Had you expended generously, you would not cease being generous,
Or shown utmost honor, you would not cease to honor.

60. Time does not demean whom you raise,
Nor do days destroy what you have decreed.