1. Does this house know what passion it stirred
One evening when it appeared to distant gazes?

2. I cried, and had it not been for a veiled glance
At the house, tears would not have flowed down my cheek.

3. O friend, had my tears not brimmed over
And the phantom of the beloved appeared, you would not know my inner feelings.

4. I concealed my passion from you as long as you were my companion,
Then my tears betrayed my passion.

5. And when a tear confirms the presence of love,
My denial and concealment of love are futile.

6. I remembered Najd after I had forgotten it a while,
But where is the man with jewels compared to the Najdi men?

7. I remember the staffs when we were
Riding our she-camels, a staff of teakwood.

8. And women traveling in litters who smiled
Like lightning when they smiled their pearl-like smiles.

9. They have a morning of radiant faces
Interspersed with a night of curly, jet-black hair.

10. They prevailed over my love, and were it not for their charms
That make me overlook their prevail over my love!

11. And the flowers of youth I deemed insignificant
Until youth passed, and opposite is known by opposite.

12. I felt secure with it among ravishing women, and its
Shade upon me remains from afar and from disfavor.

13. When I was extremely distressed with worry
I said: O suns of Al-Qura, where is the minister Abu Sa‘d?

14. The man who was my coat of mail when enemies waylaid me
And my sure resort if spears should strike.

15. I never came to him while lost
Except that he guided me to the pinnacle of rectitude

16. And how may common points were there between us
When you assumed alone glory and praise!

17. Sometimes with the sword you drove the people to guidance
And sometimes with robes of honor and stipends.

18. You protected the kingdom from every opponent
As the lionesses’ den is protected by the lions.

19. You disciplined every compliant man when you named him
And even when you did not name him, still he was disciplined.

20. As though you were above a raging, stormy sea
Of wind, or on the back of a mule running in early dawn.

21. It was not frivolity, but excess of courage
Made you doff the mantles of hesitation and veil.

22. As though you had clothed yourself with the boldness
Of one who fears no pathways or crowding of men.

23. You came to be taken seriously, not jestingly,
With utmost earnestness, gravity and diligence.

24. And you left in your nature no rancor which you harbor
In you heart against anyone, after showing clemency.

25. So farewell to me, though after you
I have no patience for the tyranny of time.

26. Is it not time for our former close association
To return in beauty from the distances?

27. You were never in a house too far from me,
But old age makes me slow to go places.

28. I am but traveling every road
To you, barefoot and naked.

29. How many homes have I inhabited with affection
Without spreading my cloak over their expanses!

30. In my heart is painful word of separation from you
And how many painful words with no outward sign!

31. My flowing tears remember what I have lost of you
As though, unlike other people, I alone lost you.

32. May God water the days that passed when you were with me,
A bosom friend, soon to meet, like flash of lightning.

33. To them in my heart is a lasting fragrance
That permeates with the breath of Indian ambergris.

34. Everything I ever expected from you is lost,
Nothing being guarded for your sake except my pledge.

35. Had it not been for bashfulness
We would meet more often without hiding all our secrets.

36. If you become estranged, the ostrich has a companion,
And if you hide away, a lucky star has hidden from us a while.

37. A valley is no good if you are in a different one,
And life cannot be enjoyed away from you in comfort.

38. Though I conceal it, I am despondent
And one day I must be stripped of my scabbard.

39. If one day you will not accept me as a tax
Surely you will accept me as your due.

40. The sons of the age have been depraved by God
In foolish ways, straying far from the right path.

41. They regard all earnestness as meaningless
So who will buy my wares if I sell my soul?

42. And confused notions circulated among them
While the noble one disdains the garb of humiliation like a slave.

43. Among them are so many dead from ignorance
And sometimes a man dies with no one to bury him.

44. Ah, if only the woes of time that have rebelled
And defeated all attempts to cure them could be healed!

45. There is no honoring a favor at the promised moment,
While vileness comes to me without appointment.

46. And how numerous rights have you against me
That surpass my ability to count and hinder my hands!

47. If exceeding and augmented praise of you occurs,
Then God reward the superior ones I failed to praise!

48. Every day I compose a poem to you
Not like other men dedicate poems to one another.

49. The reciters transmit it from me, verily
It enriches more than the transmitters enrich.

50. Of lasting words that survive forever
While many words failed to gain eternity.

51. It is water, sometimes smooth and limpid
And sometimes, whenever you wish, solid as rock.

52. It pours from hearts whose reception of them
Allows no rejection, resistance, or repeal.

53. So take my poem as messenger visit you
Since my poem benefits more than my coming myself.

54. It still belongs to greatness that excludes partnership,
And freely bestowed bounty among people in bonds and authority.