1. O guardian of the hoped-for state
The saying of a guardian is evident to you

2. O you whose morals have all become
Justice that sets up the scales with equity

3. Why have your promises now become
Rewards that mock the condition?

4. And how often to your house I returned
Back and forth because of it, confused

5. Until from the anger that befell me
From the length of that enemy and turmoil

6. If my foot were a pen in her presence
I would not lack it from writing

7. The difficulty of strict privacy—what is its face
To a friend whose excess increased?

8. To a man from whose gratitude you take
If you bestow on him beyond what you give

9. You were excessive in taking me prisoner while you were the one
I hope will be excessive in freeing me

10. Your fame—the sustenance divided among people—
I see I have no share of it

11. And your clement palm—it never ceased to be—
And your beneficence is without blame

12. You are clement with the unworthy of your seekers
So why not clement with the errant?

13. And you are the unique one whose line
In the state’s ear is like an earring

14. Say to the well-bred son of the well-bred one who
If he aims at goals never misses:

15. It is an injustice to your pens that they are named
When likened to the slow porcupine

16. You have three fingers that have become
Feathers fanned by your august hand

17. A line like pearls from a scribe
A verse more fragrant than musk

18. It scattered pearls in its pages
And the wild pigeons hastened to pick them

19. The stars in his books wished
To be places for dots

20. So some of what you deserved of what you obtained
Of secure, protected glory,

21. And a beautiful, envied state
The Giver of States has given you

22. What is written inadvertently—so be reassured—
It has protection from erasure or scraping off