1. The procrastinator has too long delayed his duty,
And recovery from his illness.

2. Ask him who made me a confidant in love
With that which atoned when he was averse.

3. Filled with rage is my heart because of him,
Churned in the embers of grief.

4. Reproach yourself, this attachment,
The recompense of him who arbitrated or delegated.

5. Shout! Do you see lightning on a cloud,
As if it were an Indian blade being sharpened?

6. Remind me of the pact at passionate meetings,
And recollection cannot restore what has passed.

7. The specter went with the phantom, so this is for one
Who was sleepless, and the phantom for one who winked.

8. If my anguish has not, then it has wearied me—
Both he who fought and he who provoked are equal.

9. By God, if his inner self
Harbored the secret thoughts of my inner self, it would not wink!

10. He revived a gazelle between his eyelids—
The skill of coquetry and the sword of destiny.

11. Aloof, though his forefathers
Would exhaust the arrow and not wink.

12. Beware meeting him without armor,
Fearing his wrath and coveting his favor.

13. Opposites cannot be joined, and the head
Has joined black and white.

14. As if my branch were an arena where they released
Tears and meteors over it that were goaded.

15. Seeking the glory of a preceding horseman
Whose every wing behind him was ruffled.

16. The ancestors before him
Built for him the tallest, broadest edifice.

17. A band whose exertions
Were blankets over the earth and padding of the firmament.

18. Since they dipped their fingertips in water
The water rippled not, nor were disturbed.

19. If they trod on stone with their feet,
Or if their palms touched it, it would be gentled.

20. The world and religion were not devoid of
Their sons' ministry or judgment.

21. While you see their pens stowed
Until you see their swords burnished.

22. And the tread of their heels continued
To rise until it found no riser.

23. Blessed be his soil, so his branch thrived
And produced cream from the curds.

24. Skilled in knowledge, if he wished, he could
Err in his pasture or turn acidic.

25. The essence of manners is in his palm;
Whenever he shot its arrows, they hit their mark.

26. He understands the meaning of words before
They are raised, declined, or dragged.

27. Woe! O Abu Nasr, you are a man
From whom fate does not reclaim what it loaned!

28. You granted me affection, so I repaid you
With thanks and praise, like one who compensated.

29. A peer to it settled in my heart
Since the plaits of curls were untangled.

30. Like spots on your garments—
Purification refused to remove them.

31. And all that this passion builds
With estrangement and separation will not be demolished.

32. Proximity of body is no use if
There is no receptive, blinking heart.

33. How many a distant lover there is, and intimate
Hater! One detested, the other loved!

34. The embellishment of words with glory is worthless when
What is concealed in the breast has been concealed.

35. A sword, if it rusts—does wiping
Or polishing avail to sharpen it?

36. I was warned of a suspicion about me;
My skull roared over it.

37. And intimation reaches one who winked.
The reproach of my friend startles me, yet

38. The lion startles me not when it growls!
And secrets are secure with me, though inside me

39. There is nothing suppressed or aborted.
Far from me! Guile is not the adornment of my nature,

40. Nor is the raiment of betrayal my cloak!
Sorrow has not clothed me, immersed,

41. Nor has wish robed me, sopping.
I admit the truth before

42. My companion is obliged to impose it.
How could I spurn him who is my soul? If

43. The body separates, it is inevitable.
What fault but for time that

44. Dresses mankind in a borrowed garb?
All its states have changed me,

45. And in them there is no satisfactory state—
Either walking on its embers

46. Or mounted on its burning sands.
He whom fate has been gentle with

47. Must drink what it stirred.
Struggle to attain sustenance and you will obtain it,

48. For the ledger is full when you stir it.
The hunger of lions would persist

49. If they were benighted in their lairs.
I blame my days for being

50. Thankful to God for what He ordained.