1. I yearn for you and your memory haunts me
For parting from you has wounded me, and wounded me deeply

2. I have become a companion of travel, yet I cannot find you
I spend my nights awake, yet sleep evades me

3. I tell the same story over and over in my sorrow
Until sickness has overtaken me and talks with me

4. So I left your memory, though passionate longing destroyed me
Just as your abandonment destroyed me

5. He who has not tasted the bitterness of longing
Cannot know how the eyes of the enamored weep

6. When I guided the reins of my mount toward him
To feast my eyes on his features for a moment

7. The features began to overwhelm me with their radiance
While fate has worn them down just as it has worn me down

8. The place was not inhabited when I visited it at dusk
Except for where my mount knelt, and where I knelt

9. If you were to listen to me wailing among its ruins
You would be amazed at the conversation between the remnants and me

10. I asked where are those I once knew
To answer me or provide some explanation

11. But the echo threw my words back at me with its desolation
Answering me with the same words I whispered to it

12. The echo spoke truly, both I and this land are ignorant
Of the beloved since the beloved traveled on

13. Those whose bonds are like their eyes
Are weakly bound when they meet

14. They left me the day they gained power over me
Letting my flowing tears and suffering heart pine for them

15. A heart around which your charming glance circles
Like a goblet passing over the top of a flask

16. And I, enchanted by a beauty I beheld, am willing
To ransom my heart which was captivated by an alluring glance

17. When I saw the two dangling earrings in wondrous amazement
Gleaming on his radiant cheeks I could only exclaim

18. Why are the two earrings hanging there now that they have punished
The beauty of his cheeks? Yet the bewitching eyes remain

19. Suspended alongside the tyrannous cheeks, both now
Are captive to the crimes they have perpetrated

20. Never did an oppressor first seize an innocent
And by so doing exonerate the criminal

21. Fate can obscure the strangeness of its decree
To the point I doubt even what my eyes see plainly

22. O ancient ruins, I came to you a visitor, a man
Far from family and homeland

23. Misfortune lodged me in its abode so I became
An easy feast for sorrows, for strangers are prone to melancholy

24. A guest who chooses to stay with me
Will find my rocky ground inhospitable terrain

25. And if he travels on, no friendly fire will guide him at night
Except the fire of my passions raging out of control

26. My companion dealt the blows of one seeking union
Melting me, burning me, consuming me

27. And yet, had the noble felt the pangs of hunger
They would not consider it a favor to feed a guest

28. In the gardens of Isfahan, is there one suffering with the fever
Of Khuzistan to explain Isfahan's beauty and charm?

29. For spring has unfurled all its banners
And she smiles at the people with her many hues

30. Except for my heart, which grief oppresses too deeply
To glimpse its brilliant hopes

31. The gardens resemble well-arranged salons
With fresh verdant leaves like goblets of wine

32. The breeze as delightful to drink as morning drafts
And branches swaying with little drunken steps

33. The doves begin to coo, repeating their refrain
Selecting from among melodies the sweetest strains

34. You will see the boughs moved by the sheer force
Of passion, bending like limbs in tight embrace

35. The branches take on the posture of hands
When they bend, and hands resemble branches

36. Why does the gentle breeze blow with languor?
Its blowing fails to stir longing before dawn

37. The breezes make the willows tremble
Cloaking their shoulders in films of dew

38. As if on a day of tumult, seeking to drive
Opposing ranks to the field of contest

39. As if the sea sent the heavy clouds
To the shore, scattering pearls and coral

40. Depicting its bubbles like scattered coins
And its foam like the fruit on branches

41. The anemones tell tales to each other
With their perfect beauty, like rosy cheeks

42. They resemble delicate cheeks, so why
Are they named after the medicinal nigella?

43. Each scarlet anemone appears to be drunken,
Its petals glowing like the reddest henna

44. You would think them the eyes of men brimming with blood
So none can be seen but the eyes of men

45. They shed tears for the Prince, alas
Cut down in his youth before his prime

46. Excellence, if deemed a garden, will have envy
Eyeing it sharply like a lurking snake

47. Abu Ali holds such lofty excellence
The full moons cannot reach his ascendance

48. The Emir Muhammad ibn Muhammad arose
As a sun of justice and benevolence

49. A nobility for God's religion, rightly guided,
Among the finest names of glorious men

50. When the group of kings defended the faith
They were its noblest defenders and aides

51. Sons of the first group whose swords
Subdued disbelief for belief in ancient days

52. They wore white turbans as their crowns
And were accustomed to the color white for their headbands

53. With them God's Prophet triumphed gloriously
Whether they traced back to Adnan or Qahtan

54. On the day of Dhi Qar when their swords were like
Fires for the people who worship fires

55. Such too in ignorance was the nature of their rule
If one looks upon a youth over a two day span

56. They protected Islam's sanctuary when it was threatened
By the Kharijites with a deadly strike

57. Abu Dulaf marched to Aliya, but no two feet
Had ever entered it before in this way:

58. With a band of Mudharis, but all walking steadily
On the path of faith without straying right or left

59. A detachment that pulverizes rock underneath it
Rushing to meet the sunset with lightning bolts

60. Where nothing incites the confusion of mayhem
Except the neighing of the agitated steeds

61. The horses plunge into danger like eagles
As the warriors dash underneath the eagles

62. Spears goring the kidneys straight through to the heart
With their slim iron heads instead of spear wood

63. On the horses' backs, provisions that make every kind
Of dewdrops their delightful share

64. Each son of a noble mare, his horse's chest
Overflowing with valor beyond any adversary

65. Never fed his horse's milk, had he not been
Fed himself the milk of his mare

66. By your perfect rule, the opinion of the minister
And the banner of the Sultan grow brighter

67. You rise more glorious, the finest jewel of your age
While your ancestors were jewels of their ages

68. With features that captivate all who behold them
And a home wide open with pillars for all guests

69. Your outstanding qualities have made you excel
Beyond eagles, whom no other birds surpass

70. When you consider your descendants no lineage can equal
The glory of yours or even draw near

71. O Bani Ishaq - when you claim descent from them
You are supported by the towering heights of Bani Shayban

72. If you ask about superiority and highest virtue
Then the first to come to mind are the two Qasims

73. They were the two who in former times
Raised the banner of glory and leadership

74. Divide excellence into ten parts: they would be
Entitled to fully two of the shares

75. Was there anyone among ministers but Qasim?
More could be said to make his superiority plain

76. Blessed is he whom those five would honor
With a visit, greeting, or call to prayer

77. Who could compare with al-Nizam in generosity?
All others who lived before him are gone

78. He gives everlasting gifts though he himself is gone
While all others who outlived him perished

79. They are like your two arms, as though
They bolstered your glory for all people

80. And you are the best that comes between them
If none resemble those two personages

81. Hopes that envision you prepare
Heroes when perilous events draw near

82. It is as if the glow upon his brow captivates
Our eyes with imaginary beauty marks

83. Eloquence from his words puts beauty spots to shame
As if his words were earrings in ears

84. His admirers burden him with extravagant praise,
Summoning him with the costliest goods

85. His excellence and favor exceed
What any youth could collect of honor and respect

86. It is as if the swaying branches tremble for his arrival
Branches that bend toward each other with welcome

87. The desert blooms at the news of him
And the time of meeting the caravans is blessed

88. All those firm of purpose make haste toward him
Loyally obedient, steadfastly compliant

89. Not tiring of serving or changing directives
From vocalized to unvoweled letters

90. Humble toward visitors, his glory
Loftier than lofty minarets

91. I ransom you with my soul, O excellent Muhammad
Whose hopes do not disappoint hopes

92. When I summon him in a crisis, he responds
Defying hesitation, refusal, or delay

93. I promised him affection and he promised assistance
While glory promises that some will assist me

94. I celebrated him in verse, but I refrain
From reducing his merit to nothingness

95. If days have passed during which I depended on him
Like the short-lived rays of lightning

96. Still I praise his lofty qualities
As Hassân praised Ghassân

97. If my feet do not tread his domain
My pen flows and tongue keeps praising