1. I do not excuse the man who loves while he has a choice
Love in him combines shame and fire

2. Its shame is the folly of the reproacher if they shun
And its fire is burning if the house kindles

3. Were it not for the soothsaying of my eyes my liver would not have known
That the wine-skin is a cloud in which are moons

4. The whiteness of her smiling cheek and its redness please you
As a dirham and dinar please you

5. Alas, the talk of Na’man and his dweller
Indeed, talk of loved ones is bitter

6. How excellent is the garden of al-Ahwa if it is veiled from me
The breaches are described by its bright flowers

7. And excellent are the branches, vines whose only
Fruit are doves, leaves and berries

8. You have taken shelter in one with languishing eyes who
Had already inclined to love Bashshar

9. With the languishing there are objections and discontent
And in reproach there are answers and excuses

10. After them the gazelles of the thicket no longer frisk
Nor the green birds flutter in the branches

11. It is as if on the day of Sulaymaniyah
The fangs and claws of Usamah have clung to me

12. I search the winds for you whenever the balmy southern winds blow
From your land, winds of musk

13. And I ask the caravans news but they conceal it from me
As if you are a secret in the breasts of the people

14. Until imagination appeared beside me to make me imagine
Closeness, while in reality you are distant and perilous

15. No abode where the zealot of religion has his desire in your quarter rests
He whose protection the herd of fate would not have roamed

16. Except where he wills
And if the branches neighbored him

17. The winds of Najd would not have rustled them while they were supple
Every glorious feat is recounted to him

18. That melts hearts, and news of him is transmitted
You have honored one who has an esteemed station in glory

19. Yet where is he who has vestiges in glory?
When does that people rest when their chosen chief is greeted

20. And every day the chosen one is acclaimed?
Were it not for the guarantee of his hands, his world would see

21. Clouds rain from his palms
He meets the destitute with an expression that distracts them

22. From begging, and the days have lights
His share of bounty is that his comfort is between

23. The destitute and providing for them
Brother of ambitions, meeting him in his humility

24. Bent over while between his shoulders are eyes
If hope is lost no use for the horses

25. What they etched of saddles, or the camel litters
None plunder gratitude but the battalions from his

26. On the day of leave-taking, guests and visitors
When the settlements were despoiled, to their mother, al-Huswar

27. You saw him as the hopes cling to
God owns the future days, his resolve for them

28. Has supporters in might and gaining victory

29. Trust in success when you don the coat of mail
Whose rings and pins are of metal

30. His conscience does not hide from his innermost thoughts
As if its notion penetrates the unseen

31. Of mankind he is, but his bounty transcends them
Just so, pearl and pebble are stones

32. With what view does Abu Nasr contend with him
On the rope of discord, and some reprehension pass?

33. Does he not see the lion of the thicket gathered
For a pounce, and the young phoenix a squawker?

34. No blame to a guide if first came
Excuse and warning

35. You began with a smile he thought meek
So he was fooled, and the morning planet a deceiver

36. Now when it has cast off its veil and she has thrown
Away her mask, war and the horsemen plunge

37. Tomorrow he will wipe the sides of misery in regret
How can a leg rise if its brain is stunned?

38. The fires of turmoil foolishly engulf ships
For fire feeds on their wood and tar

39. If the common foe is mailed
The lion amid the vile cattle is aggressive

40. Or if he was fooled by appearances blindly
In the depths are currents from his palms

41. When my bosom friend trills around him
The strings trill in the callused Turk's bow

42. Fulfill the promises of resolve you guaranteed
And do not let doubt and heavy baggage slow you

43. Wealth is a spirit you squander
And fame in the emptiness of fate roams

44. Do not neglect a step that has led
To your ascent, for fate revolves

45. And its preparation on festival day for it
Is only outlay and income for bliss

46. When he intended a gift to perform for you
He came to you while the month of fasting is a racecourse

47. And we have conveyed his gilded gifts
As if they are the little stars in the necklace of glory

48. And I do not make my words cheap to its carrier
Except to you, for poetry has values