1. Peace like the blossoming of meadows with a smile's radiance,
Upon your abode the love song advances,

2. Upon a pact no hands but time’s remains
Save some ruins from your days that have no voice.

3. Where the homes sprawled freely it was generous,
A time whose pact no flaw yet stains.

4. It adorned the joys of play and dressed
Its features in the cloak of youth and tunes.

5. And praised the Lord of the Throne who dwells in its precincts
Though he does not heed a pining lover's love.

6. A morning greeting whenever the past is recalled
He hurls a flaming ember between his ribs.

7. Yearning for those homes and folk
The longing of one enamored, emigrant from his land.

8. Roaming in the wastes of cares, writhing
With a flaming, fragmented heart.

9. And the Moon-like one recalls it with the ruin, crushing
The days of youth from its advancing fissure.

10. And the genteel life that was beautiful and fresh
With the flowing of an imagining poured in bliss.

11. And the shade of youth which glistened with green
And a cloak whose prime did not turn bleak.

12. He folded his love like the bending of the lithe ones
As he folded his love for her who blames and assails me.

13. And many a friend I delighted to be near
For years while time unknitted our bond.

14. Suns of comfort revolved between me and him
In companionship whose intimacy rivaled stars.

15. Till misfortunes struck us with their arrows
And my home was emptied of his love and sign.

16. The nights stole him from me and imprisoned
My heart with shackles of lasting sickness.

17. Can I be other than the soul’s uneasy lord,
A heart discomforted by ardour and torment?

18. And of what has pained me, many an incident,
Is how time changes with men of honour.

19. And a brother’s tyranny who shows enmity,
Berating me with blame while friendship is inviolate.

20. So O you who have wronged me, we ask you make peace
Show mercy to one whose tears have been shed.

21. And heed the reproach of a friend, for admonishment
May restore the bond of one grown separate.

22. So I have expressed my displeasure, now listen to advice
That I have placed in verse’s figurative stratum.

23. I used to be, before now, hardy in friendship
Disdainful, not conforming to old pacts.

24. Though I cannot resist love’s opinions with passion
Nor curb longing if it strays beyond dreams.

25. I walk in raiments of probity, robed
With forbearance like a bending branch unshakeable.

26. And if we fall out, I move to another
Without remorse or memories that disturb.

27. But your love debased me,
Distracted by passion’s bliss gone bleak.

28. I say, as my friend sleeps and I do not,
On the glowing embers of ribs made fragile:

29. My friend, why has our pact faded
While my love remains, however long, inviolate?

30. Did time’s progress change it, or did he incline
To another’s love, or an unstable, unsound saying?

31. O ultimate hope, O joy of the soul
O noble one of generosity abounding!

32. May God favour a smitten soul
Whose heart has no ally but thoughts of you.

33. Remaining by enduring fidelity’s tether
You were fed only unsoured affection.

34. From you, manners were distilled, with you a nature
Was praised in fair words of eloquent Arab and foreigner.

35. Like a chamomile flower opened by the dawn’s hand
Brushing it with its trailing hem in a smile.

36. It heeded the goodness of love, and should enmity
Rise one day, you’d hear no criminal’s talk.

37. I seek refuge for you from one who says your affair
Is a literary man excelling others in verse.

38. When someone’s actions are base, so are his opinions,
And he believes the suspicions he imagines.

39. He turns against his loving friends with his hostility
And wakes in darkest doubt from the night.

40. Recall, may God shepherd you, previous comrades
And later ones whose hearts are bound in amity.

41. You disavowed a loyal ally, though for him
You are preferred over all who love you early.

42. I denied his unspoiled love which glistens with freshness
And you faced the keen swords with steadfastness.

43. Patience with my fate, O you whose love
Gains us reward from the Majestic Sovereign!

44. Do you disavow an ally while the expanse is vast?
Shame on you! Is this the work of one noble?

45. Restore for me one day to it, perhaps
It will ward off the arrows of my attack.

46. And if the bosom of your love offers no hope
And misfortune assails with parting’s blades,

47. I will act with selflessness, leaving your lands
For an exalted saying advancing aloft.

48. Better for me to stay in a place where the free reside
And gain, rather than lose, that abode of plunder.

49. I have given you candid counsel from a soul seeking
Companionship whose care is incumbent on all Muslims.

50. When you take a friend, befriend the well-mannered,
Noble, inclined towards virtues.

51. Conduct yourself in a way likeable as you are able,
And avoid, may your soul be ransom, the blemished.

52. Consider the rights of brethren of loyalty
Lest you forget allegiance and come to regret.

53. So he who does not obey the Merciful’s pact
Of a preceding loyal friend’s rights has no shepherd!

54. Do good to the days and know they are
Steeds to the dark grave’s final absolutism.

55. For time is but like a sleeper’s dreams
And a man’s glory in it like a vanishing specter.

56. Do not be deluded by power you attain
Lest a day come to erase you with erasure.

57. And keep in mind the Lord of the Throne, and know
He sees what is hidden of every concealed affair.

58. And here is a poem emerging from gentle invention,
Containing reproach like a string of pearls.

59. Between the lines of yearning it appears
Like the shining teeth displayed in a smile.

60. More subtle than mirage it sang mournfully one evening,
Passed down by the hand of a vintner.

61. Live in lasting, unending bliss and joy,
In a life made easy with power and peace.

62. Your abode is praiseworthy and your door a refuge,
Your shade outstretched, towards it good fortune inclines.

63. Never in time did the ode weep in its chant
A song of loyalty gone by in melody.