1. If only passion would divert him, the gentle one,
Either with intimacy or by severance.

2. Pleasure of embraces, devotion, longing,
And if possible, mixtures of healing potions.

3. O you who deafen my hearing with rejection
While behind it is a heart locked away.

4. Who causes repentance with wine
That flows from the pouring of the cupbearer.

5. How many spears in the isolated desert from arrows
Whose strikes are unequalled.

6. And a stature you'd think was a branch
Leafy, if it had leaves.

7. And a gazelle who gores her hunter
With curved horns amidst leaves.

8. She purified my chest, and my heart from her meadow,
And my longing from her curling tresses.

9. Captive of chastity in her abode
She rules over bondage and release.

10. Delicate in beauty are our eyelids
That they barely meet in a blink.

11. As if eyes when they appear
From their abodes are not with veils.

12. I neglected what my affection held
Fearing the rest would be recalled.

13. And a night of estrangement extended, so
The effort of a longing lover cannot end its extent.

14. My drink and food in it
Were my tears and parchments in scrolls.

15. Until the dawn erased the darkness of gloom
Like an eraser in the hand of a barber.

16. I said, while the tips of the spears glared at me
From the blue of wide eyes.

17. I do not seek truce in it even if
War against it stood on one leg.

18. And from the system of the king I have for myself
A strong, unmatched refuge.

19. Excellent protection, if a strategy appears
Wrapped by night in rags.

20. The fearful seeks safety
In my scarce covenant and pact.

21. Anger cannot assault his patience
If misfortune trips the barefoot man.

22. And arrogance cannot shake its sides
While it stands atop the high peak.

23. In its diction and script a respite
From the sharp two-edged sword.

24. Like the weapon of a lion stored
In a fist or between jaws.

25. Radiant, its light pure white
Like the shining sun at dawn.

26. Possessing joy, noble grace
Adorned with the brocade of manners.

27. It makes pass what it shows of its good tidings
A knot on the tongue of the terrified speaker.

28. Its doors are open to visitors
As if they were the eyelids of lovers.

29. The locks of its keyholes
Close the pledge if the moon were a runner.

30. If the distance of the highest is increased
Then he by it is like the Burāq of ‘Amr.

31. And common horses are pure Arabians
If you visit them, as they are causes of livelihood.

32. How many seasons of praise and gratitude it has
Of crops, rises, and markets!

33. It disdains that its clouds rain
Except with thunder, lightning, and leaves.

34. Rejoicing and its rain are a promised time
Where the clouds of generosity pour forth hailstones.

35. The clouds do not give you their bounty
Except with thunderclaps and lightning.

36. Hope is not lost in it, nor
Does a hopeful return from it with dismay.

37. The turns of fate have become captive
For the fair Quraysh, son of Ishāq.

38. It has made wealth for its love
Like food for destruction and spending.

39. If the turns of fate shake it
They meet a heart not fluctuating.

40. Commands filled with obedience
From the people of regions and horizons.

41. From between Jayhūn and the Euphrates
And between al-Shām and Iraq.

42. And a resolve by which the chests
Of spears shake in fear and dread.

43. It made the tough Turks, from its heaviness,
Groan in pulling and sinking.

44. And the sword from what burdens its edge
Lurks in the scabbards of necks.

45. It fortified the kingdom with its views
At the steep peak of regions.

46. Every day in the lands of enemies
A register of blood spilled by stabbing.

47. Like the Banū l-Asfar whom it destroyed
The finest guidance rejects all stubbornness.

48. Those who were afflicted by them so the wolves of valleys feasted,
And those who escaped fled with all their strength.

49. With an affliction in which devastation was fed
The souls of unbelievers and wicked ones.

50. How many hands in the battlefield severed
And necks split, O people of valleys!

51. The King of Rome tasted from its striking
What he had never tasted before.

52. If you had not met its heroes
You would be, in your survival, as one who met them.

53. The sun—its distance does not prevent it
From acts of growth and burning.

54. O pillar of the religion, the claim of a man
Whose tongue is not discerning.

55. By God, do not ruin what you planted
After flowering and producing fruit.

56. Through you the bends of its branches straightened
And it lengthened with mature branches.

57. A loyal servant to you never sought
From his bondage the comfort of manumission.

58. Since his insides traveled from your abode
While hearts conceal passions,

59. He did not suffer except as one suffers
From a sword with an iron screen.

60. The envious refined their sorcery
Until they saw disquietude in my isolation.

61. If their secret expatriates, then afterwards
Evil and enmity befall them.

62. Before them I was not afraid
Among crows other than croaking.

63. Who among them is hostile to me and who
Will carry, if laden, my burdens?

64. The charity of your goodness to me first
So make my later length a dowry.

65. Far be it that your hands authorized
That I wear the garb of aspiration.