1. Lessen your blame, for your way differs from mine,
And I am not compliant, so leave me be.

2. Do not tax me with the blame of one who wails,
You do me no justice by blaming me.

3. My passion alters the rosy cheeks,
And my fervor finds no solace in the trysts.

4. I’m preoccupied from loving the singing girls,
For love is but the vacancy of the soul.

5. For the sake of this passion’s disquiet,
The mighty lived in the abode of disgrace.

6. Were it not for love, you’d not see the night birds
Hunting amidst the likeness of the coward.

7. The faces of my loved ones compensate me
For the absence of the beautiful faces.

8. Whiter to me than the white eggs are the blades
Pierced in the necks on the day of trial.

9. The king of the world, glory and time called me,
And I hastened, though my loyalty held me back,

10. She came to him, no qualms in her heart,
That would make the planets envy such as she,

11. I fancied her for him, but now with my eyes
I see her visage, no longer in my mind.

12. Build her a kingdom never to fade,
Like our fires, blazing until the end of time.

13. God erected it for you on lofty heights,
Far are its meadows, high are its minarets.

14. The king then knew, and so did the princes,
That you are foremost amongst them in merit.

15. That yours is the sharpest of blades in combat,
And yours the surest of spears in the strike.

16. You are the most generous to the abodes of peril,
And the fullest charger in the desolate plains.

17. In times of peace and times of war, you are best
Suited for the throne, or astride the steed.

18. In the harshness of battle, you are farthest
From the position of one who lacks discipline.

19. So may your worth be on the day trials contorted
And twisted around you in clenching agony,

20. When they lost the path of righteousness,
While you kept to it, peerless in your loyalty.

21. They called you by night to a dangerous venture,
Like the rising moon calls to the sleepless lover.

22. By eve they tasted the fruits of desertion,
And sampled the yield of their frailty and delay.

23. Signs of ruin appeared, and the smoke
Betrays the presence of fire in the air.

24. Prudence alerted us before the encounter
Of a day whose darkness spills from Ardan.

25. While you on the back of a spirited mare,
Her reins tightened from pulling and repelling.

26. As if the rider atop was Karaya
Or the famed Srateya in times of turmoil.

27. Until you tore the napes with your blade,
And the blow you dealt almost broke the spear.

28. While others regret what is past and gone,
Left for them is nothing but gnawing their fingers.

29. Your patience deluded them, but how often
Does deliberation get stripped by resolve?

30. Do not be fooled by their sullenness,
Like the brooding of snakes before they strike.

31. Do not think your forbearance is weakness,
For how often is forbearance defeated by fury?

32. You stand among men whose way in battle
Is better than any should they spectate.

33. They have dams, which when breached,
Are rebuilt with blades, not with plaster.

34. Their oath was cast amidst the excitement
For striking that shreds the armor and pierces flesh.

35. They make lawful all that is prohibited,
As the cunning sword and spear make lawful.

36. And if you pierce with your spear in the battle,
Their backs will shield you from their spear tips.

37. O pillar of our faith, beauty of our nation,
In remoteness or vicinity, o lion divine,

38. Your father, whose praise honed my tongue,
Tirelessly have I perpetuated his glory.

39. Until affection pulled me toward him,
Gently did he draw me in and bestow his grace.

40. He kept pulling me by the hand
Until I yielded my reins to him in obedience.

41. When he was kind and I comprehended him not,
I was tired of those whose kindness preceded his.

42. So I let flow toward him the truthful poems,
Like the speech of the slain and their meanings.

43. I regaled him with the melodies of praise,
And so enriched him beyond the singers’ tunes.

44. Take from me today whatever you wish
Of my sincerity’s making and tongue’s weaving.

45. Words the dim-witted will fathom,
And even the hasty will slowly repeat.

46. Radiant words that illuminate both ears,
And when I called him with them, he obeyed me.

47. Singular in his creation, none can substitute him,
With the verse of one, and the meaning of another.

48. Should the horizon aspire to reach him, it would fail,
And none but you are his equal and peer.

49. And I have rendered a service unrivaled by time,
That I loudly declared in my era.

50. When your gaze upon me intensified,
Your hands then and there protected me.

51. And I was lodged in your shade, and I say:
The shelter you gave suffices me.

52. I have not ceased, since that time, to revel
In your affection—around my heart it coils.

53. Those who would harm me are apprehensive,
And fear to strike me, wary of your revenge.

54. Had it not been for your defense of me,
My place would not be absent of time’s doubts.

55. Nor would I be one who sees evil in others,
While overlooking it in myself, unaware.

56. And why would I not come to you when you
Are the one who refined and selected me?

57. When I associated with his glory,
I protected what had protected me before.

58. So you remained despite the strikes of fate,
And from every assailant, you kept me safe.

59. You became a beacon—never does the night
Pass without me gazing toward you from afar.

60. You were never deserted by kinds of joy,
Nor avoided by manners of congratulations.