1. Your heart was not hunted but by the daughter of dusk
And how many arrows escaped that did not escape from the twisted one

2. My passion called me to her, so I responded
She has no need for kohl with kohl on her eyes

3. White, she shames the dawn of the night if she let down
Her braids among the branches of the tall, sturdy palm

4. And if the sun of day saw her face after
She climbed its steps, it would disappear from shyness

5. And my poetry would not have flown were it not for her love
So her beauty reluctantly led me to poetry

6. If a virgin saw her, he would repent, apologizing
For ever returning to any part of virginity

7. She passed by us, while my heart was mine, and did not stop
Until it was as if my heart had never belonged to me

8. Her specter visited me weakly, making me imagine
A visit I had hoped for but never attained

9. That is a sugared visit, yet it contains
Nothing of honey for us

10. If your specter had truly visited us
It would not have turned away so hastily

11. The gift of sleep is useless
For lovers, the specter's existence is like miserliness

12. So how did you come to us not mounted
On a steed or camel litter

13. And why did you not wake my companions as they slept
By the tinkling of anklets or the rustle of skirts

14. I told the caravan to spur on every bare, smooth camel
Or short, beautiful foal of the finest pedigree

15. In confusion where you see no she-camel for a confidante
Except firm saddles and luggage

16. Stop at the cornerstone of religion and rejoice
At the fresh springs or the lush planted thickets

17. Where kings are kings of the earth, bowing
To the King of the earth, necks, and states

18. And a side where money is plundered, so he who hopes for money
Will not be pleased with hopes

19. And a meadow where there is no hand for the blamer
Nor critic of poems and compositions

20. Nothing but straightforward talk or honesty
In agreement, no truce for those who enter furtively

21. So many scenes therein, with none to arbitrate
Except swords and lethal blades

22. Where salvation for its seeker is grasping his sword
And the pyre of war hurls men into flames

23. You witnessed it in bliss - no panic touched it
Nor any contamination of fear

24. It stood firm in its rejection of pitfalls
Were shadows to leave it one day, it would not falter

25. While you were on its erect, proud back
As if it were sheer mountain rock

26. Knowing no skittishness on smooth roads, brimming
In times of panic with whatever craziness you wished

27. Controlled by its rider wherever he willed,
Calmly for the steady, swiftly for the hasty

28. Say to those who ignorantly doubted its courage
That it rivals the bravest heroic man

29. Where but in its hands can you rely on ibex
On the day of tribulation, in bodies and hills?

30. Or who but it can you see satisfying his thrust
Into the throat of armored men with ease?

31. Who aided the king but it when difficulties
Afflicted the outskirts of his domains?

32. Who defended him after his troops were defeated
Who shielded him while in the claws of the debased?

33. Who warded off from him with a flashing blade what we knew
When they crept crookedly to help him?

34. Who drove away from him the fanged tribulations when they
Swayed with opinions or plotted with cunning?

35. Who held back the hands of people who had betrayed him
And repelled them with what they hated of being repelled?

36. Think not of me as the people whose way you knew
Bound by the leashes of singing girls and gifts

37. With no resolve to stay where they lodged
No halting place on any path

38. I am sincere to you, without resentment
Coming to you again and again, without hesitation

39. If people turned away from you and moved on
I have no one but you for the life of this world

40. If they change and become other than what they once were
My affection remains, does not leave

41. If they weary, though the beautiful does not weary them
I am free of the shackles of weariness

42. You granted me such honor from you I imagine
People granted me no honor when you honored me

43. I have not been miserly about anything in life since
You made me wear the garment of generosity

44. If I come to fresh, gushing water, thirsty
In loyalty to you, water me today or provide me drink

45. Since I reached you, apart from all people
Indeed, I have cut off my ties and connections with them

46. Since I made you the pillar upon which my back relies
I am needless of mountain peaks and crags

47. So be joyous on this feast day and let fasting pass
For the best words and deeds have praised you

48. Passing with no stumbling in its manner
No shame, nothing of lapses

49. Live secured from the afflictions of fate
The pillar of your might against any leaning or bending

50. And the robe of your pride is not folded over filth
Nor does the sun of your kingdom near childhood