1. Lips close by have cured my love-sickness,
An apparition of one far off revived me from my sorrow.

2. Does he not wrap himself in roses from the wine-pourer
On his cheeks, and with the tipsiness of youth?

3. So he slept, sweetly content, while the night was dark,
Though sometimes he slept, bitter with darkness and rage,

4. When her cheeks shone radiant with bashfulness,
And when she turned away twisting in languor.

5. How can he be serious with her while she plays,
Giving the ardour of passion the seriousness of play?

6. She addressed me coyly in the gathering of intimates
Not promising a date or doubting with suspicion,

7. Covered in the veil of virtue, modestly veiled,
Journeying in the veil of roses, face concealed,

8. Until it was as if the lined writing paper smiled open
Revealing idols, or dolls, or toys.

9. Why, while we were on the hill of rendezvous, did
Those beauties, those swelling hips and hillocks waylay me?

10. Days of innocent, chaste love were granted me,
But in passionate love I have no fortune.

11. The light rain cloud watered it with a smiling tear,
And how many times the heavy downpour watered it with melancholy tears!

12. If I were to praise those days, I would say:
The Most Praiseworthy in munificence watered their meadows in blessings.

13. I will send praise embroidered on its cuffs
To the Prince, sound, without embellishment.

14. For praises are not gifted to their critic
Unless their words are purer than gold.

15. How often have I found contentment in contemplating her, a garden to delight the soul,
Wherefrom blossoms the flowers of literature!

16. When inspiration moves the spirits of speech through her,
There comes to you something fairer than the shaking reed.

17. A word whose spirit is freshened by the breeze
When we make it a bouquet upon picks.

18. Do you not see it accosting Abul Abbaas
And my hand plucking it close by?

19. The path of virtues, unique in beauty, an exile
Seeking refuge in his unique generosity, drawing near.

20. Divided between a free soul and a hand
Matched between a righteous mother and father.

21. A guiding lamp for him in every dark place
Is an early dawn of honour or nobility at dawn.

22. When we tested an enemy on a day of enmity
Its taxes were sweeter than agreeable conversation.

23. A people white in action when the streams
Of whiteness coursed the thickets' recesses.

24. The fast departed, turning away from you,
While you turned from it with endless reward.

25. So your breakfast in abundant bliss returned,
And in good fortune the epochs escorted it to you.

26. It came while the air was clear in a vast plain,
And the land preened itself in its fresh cloaks.

27. When the gleaming sword of lightning insisted,
The orator of thunder declaimed forcefully in the meadow.

28. For the beautiful wild cows there is an unending plain,
For the clouds a shade not usurped.

29. The wind and forgetfulness wind through the garden,
So none heed save those wakeful with care.

30. Brandish it, O Ibn Nasr, it is a sword of calamity
Speeding, a shining meteor of flame.

31. It moves, and the innards of the foe tremble before it
As if it were a fluttering, sweet-scented standard.

32. It almost flashes brightly if praise of it
Were a band that flashed before in books.

33. If you shouted with it on a day of battle,
It would take the place of the lances, whites, and greys.