1. Does the moon thus move,
While the night is clad in black?

2. No stain mars its light,
Unseen are any tracks.

3. Rather it is a phantom passing by,
Stalking yet not traveling afar,

4. Leaving the night most strange,
Relieving the eye that did yearn and starve.

5. O visitor who was not visited!
Secretly he came, a miser - stealthy and sparse.

6. He did not arrive till he went away,
And the blossoms preceded his approach.

7. He was but a shadow, then he did wane,
Save some memories that do remain,

8. To soothe an eye with vigil and wake.
So I rose with tears that fell like pearls,

9. I refrain what did exude and hurl,
And from companions conceal and veil,

10. While between us faint are the trails.
His night, when it is poor and bare

11. Is fraught with the scents of camphor and myrrh
From a steed that was kept well prepared,

12. Whose reign was that of triumph and victory.
In it, with freedom, peril was rife

13. As it roamed atop rugged life,
Between gardens and acts of deceit

14. And valleys, haunts of pleasure and cheer,
In which flows the ink of the pen,

15. First, when blossoms did exude their scent,
It waded them, reckless and negligent

16. Through the branches, clutching some, leaving some,
With the maids in greenery clad,

17. From a waist that was slender and slim,
Until he came, after desire was fed,

18. Filling the eyes of whoever did glance,
With the best kind of licit significance,

19. Far from him in settlements and thorns
After a wink from a coquettish glance,

20. So if we were ardent or if we were tamed
Between clarity and gloom we became

21. Like lines in an ode brought together
Thus he passed like a gazelle took flight

22. Or did not, and rushed like torrents at night
Or did not, and faded like a star losing light

23. Or did not, and passed like a notion took flight,
Due to a valley stream's striking might,

24. He turned away from it in sham and spite,
Until when the guide made a call,

25. And the journey for the group grew long,
And consciousness for the soul grew strong,

26. And dazzle seized the mind and all,
He spanned the horizons wide unfurled,

27. Until we knocked on the door of a vanishing world,
At the court of a ruler mighty and bold,

28. Whose generosity flowed among men manifold,
Like destiny's hands their fates did mould,

29. Lofty of station, highest of throne,
Rarity of mortals, cream of the crop full-grown,

30. If fate did exact revenge anytime,
Or a bone was broken, he would splice and align,

31. Or the clouds ceased, and rain was confined,
Or the horses grew weak and resigned,

32. When he saw things were in decline,
And hardship shone at dawn like a sign,

33. He endured it and did not repine,
With few who offered aid at the time,

34. Until he unsheathed swords that did shine,
Sent troops in a great number and line,

35. Glowering, with armor at the ready, declined,
Steadfast under shields they did recline,

36. Offering prayers when fury was assigned,
With swords that sparked like fire refined,

37. A day most defiance did evince,
Bringing for the kingdom triumph so pristine,

38. Between purpose and victory made clean,
O his sword when it found success supreme!

39. His aid when distress was ongoing, it seems!
His glory when it was towering tall and teeming!

40. You are the minister, and trouble's redeeming.
All others are base and meaningless, demeaning,

41. And who can compare in times uncertain, looming,
To the sun at dawn, and the morning star gleaming?

42. No use for a foe, his command we are streaming,
To drive back a matter already schemed,

43. Like the ugly face of a waning moon beaming,
Woe to him, if he persists and esteems,

44. No curses if he trips or redeems,
Make time yield, its wonders supreme,

45. Place not in it conceits vain or dreaming,
Triumphant through you they do gleam,

46. If you pricked them with needles fine,
They would turn to spears at the borderline,

47. Vanquishing the foe, so keen, so sublime,
As they tear the breast plates at the height of their prime,

48. From each chest that swelled at its time,
O you, when you desire and determine, you climb,

49. Whose gifts when given, do overwhelm and bedim,
Until when excuses flow, a trickling stream,

50. Until when gratitude surges, no more a whim,
Not all rain, even torrents upstream,

51. Its least only a shiny gem,
Unless with goodness it did teem,

52. From one who did perceive and esteem,
Plunged into it, mindful, keen,

53. Whose portion is perils unforeseen,
Extended to all present, careening,

54. Don’t you see the sea, seething and preening?
It rained on all, torrents careening,

55. But preferred some with pearls, pleasing,
Support of the throne, aid intervening,

56. Beyond this, all is meaningless fleeing,
Of what fate, in its caprice, did glean,

57. All sins are forgiven, it seems,
If to its heights, excuses careen,

58. Most exquisite in conduct serene,
In what it enjoined and made clean,

59. Thus a saying we have seen,
Abu Bakr did surpass Umar pristine,

60. If not in jurisprudence, cause no consternation between,
For the two rightly guided ones are equal in esteem,

61. O you, when a stallion whinnies loud, demeaning,
Be it from Yemen, or Mudar intervening,

62. Save for the Prophet and his kin so leaning,
He turns not intoxicated or careening,

63. So the pride of the proud did teem and preen,
And was wholesome in the experienced and keen,

64. In nature, desire, and mien,
There reside as long as life's cloth is gleaming,

65. Lasting while destiny's arrows careening,
Achieving in glory towers looming,

66. You gained a kingdom, so polish and screen,
From others' malice so sullying and mean,

67. With the white and reddish yeast so steaming,
Thus remain patient if worries convene,

68. Each heart perturbed and demeaning,
Its first state chaos and darkening,

69. Then pure, as trails thereafter careening,
Enough of my words, no more fire in the kiln steaming,

70. Of meanings novel, each verse preening,
In couplets pithy, concise and lean,

71. As if destiny itself intervening,
A day of joy from life's fabric gleaning,

72. Graceful, benign, serene,