1. O you who were absent, patience has fled me ever since we parted
Why didn't you ask how the longing lover fared

2. Nothing pleases his eye or gives it joy
Except those whose friendship was pure and sincere

3. Whenever the warblers trilled among the branches
Their songs invoked heartache and sorrow in me

4. I remain in a state of one who desires no substitute
With family as family, and neighbors as neighbors

5. I moisten my eyelids with her tears
Whenever I remember dwellings and homelands

6. Fiercest among them in battle, most generous of hand
Greatest in rank, highest in station

7. God's regent in the lands, held in honor
The precious is precious wherever he may be

8. If all the kings of earth were weighed
He would surpass them in brilliance and valor

9. He awed them with his resolves they saw
So the kings of earth submitted to him

10. Nor did traversing the sea daunt him
As he traveled from land to land

11. Like the sun whose rays fill the world
No horizons can conceal it

12. He safeguarded the entirety of Islam's dominion
So God protected him as he protected it

13. He claimed no vainglorious triumphs
Save those his deeds proved true

14. May God protect him from all he fears
And increase his faith after security

15. Why would one who takes God as ally
Fear any plot or peers

16. Who has the angels as troops and aides
No mortal can resist him

17. From his noble sovereignty it saw
Thrones bow to him, turbans doff

18. It showed submission, downcast eyes, dislodged
From hearts rancor and hatred

19. He purified until none could be found
Save those thanking him for his grace

20. Firm against any foe, though embroiled
In flame, he would not bend lifelong

21. His days he spends judging, taking counsel
At night reciting Quran, wing-like

22. In Iraq his kindness brought justice
After its oppression and wrongs

23. People yielded to him, obeying his command
As the led camel yields, disdaining disobedience

24. What excellent men, focused on him
Pillars of his shining state

25. How his meteors burned the rebels, leaving
No devils surviving on earth

26. Witnessing his wondrous triumphs
Religions proliferated in doctrines of him

27. Franks' nations concurred in loving him
Young and old alike

28. While you see them black as war when roused
Like hawks circling glory's air

29. Battling foes rank-and-file, till you'd deem them
On the battlefield, a single edifice

30. Basra now is calm, at peace
Good things came with Suleiman

31. Excelling, by his governance, what once
Had stature, now made greater

32. But how can I solace loved ones departed
When no solace can be found for this heart

33. O how strongly parting's morn oppressed me
When I bade farewell to friends there

34. My inclination turns only to the noble, eloquent
Who befriends nobility, makes them intimates

35. Hearing any of his virtues, I incline
Joyfully to what I hear

36. They pursued glory until one said
The kings of Ottomans revive Ottoman rule

37. Tongues unleashed his praises
Publicly and in secret

38. Hearts you brought together, rarely joined
In love of you, lords and notables

39. If my tongue and pen articulate
They reap speech's branches, gather ears

40. You told, no allurement escaped you
Harshly eloquent, gazing intently

41. You perfected whatever you decreed in wisdom
Requited for that kindness with kindness

42. By your discernment and knowledge
You placed justice and equity in balance

43. A favor from God, you were granted perfection
So you favored others with bounty and grace

44. God grant you goodness among people with insight
Perplexing keen minds with your own

45. Clemency letting fires burn cold
Resolve letting seas blaze

46. You mete out bounty in its proper place
Nothing is mighty or weak before you

47. You saw things whose benefits are not hidden
As if before them, time was blind

48. And the people, by that cleansing, were then
As if a soul breathed, a meadow bloomed

49. You gave us fresh sweet water to drink
Till the thirsty drinker was sated

50. You left none, though people thronged
To increase the sea's swell with seas

51. By you Basra healed of the debauchery that pained
Souls and bodies alike

52. After illnesses had dyed
Faces with death's hues

53. Who then could deny it
When from bodies you made pillars

54. O palm tree of glory, we tend its saplings
Root and branch, fronds and stalks

55. On your brow glory inscribed its lines
How many titles of that script I've read

56. My God, protect you from a man
Who makes magic of words and rhetoric

57. Plucking fruits of grandeur from his epistles
Till the gardens of merit became orchards

58. Since your luminous face met our eyes
Sorrows lifted from radiant Basra

59. In your coming, joy perfected
Though moons may disappear at times