1. In ancient or recent ruins
Does a lovelorn one attain his wish?

2. I stopped at the vestiges of home
But pausing at vestiges avails naught.

3. May showers water Salma’s abodes—
Dhat Salam, Rumah, and al-Ghumaym.

4. And the campsite of beloveds now gone
Whose hearts once joyfully sauntered.

5. Take, O breeze, my breath to them
Though it be hotter than poison.

6. After them I check my generous tears
That flowed from the agony of cruel love.

7. May God tend my loved ones—how their nights
Passed on the winding trail!

8. I spent the bliss of a life with them.
Ask me of bliss if you’re ignorant of bliss!

9. How many fresh, dewy branches I plucked
Whose blossoms flowered evergreen!

10. When we married Ibn al-Mazin to
Bint al-Karam the day she donned her gown.

11. After the clouds and days of Sa’al,
A deliverance from cares or sorrows.

12. I sent these tears pouring down
To complain about the heavy rain.

13. As if, when I send them my tears,
The separation serves me a cup of anguish.

14. In her ignorance, sadness blames
My streaming tears—but what can the blamed do?

15. I asked if reproach could benefit
The companion of passion—then blame me!

16. For the heart harbors untamed love,
O Umayma, like an enemy’s grudge.

17. My heart lacks patience with you.
Who hopes for wealth from the destitute?

18. And here am I, far from the one I love,
Wasted, with only the breeze to heal me.

19. How many hale souls have been laid low
By passion for the glance of a fawn!

20. Less than that living lion who hurls
Himself into the arrows of a tender gaze.

21. I suffer what I suffer for loved ones.
Their torment is more painful than mine.

22. They broke their vows and persisted
In their egregious acts of treachery.

23. Thoughts of them after they left were hell
Amidst the inferno of misery.

24. I left my people in the Abode of Peace,
No longer healed of lovesickness.

25. In shining Basra I have a people—
With them I face the gravest problems.

26. From the breast of Abraham have sprung
In it fountains of knowledge for the world.

27. Of the nobles of lofty Quraysh
Through them grace came to Zamzam and al-Hatim.

28. When the lineages of Ma’add are recounted
The first to be counted are their lineages.

29. The pillar of religion, Imam al-Din,
Rose among us today by God’s command.

30. A scion of God’s Messenger whose fragrance
Announced the sweet scent of aromatics.

31. A star in the firmament of glory
Guiding to the straight path.

32. A piercing comet ceaselessly kindling,
Repelling every accursed devil.

33. Turning the night of doubt to morn
When it is like the mindless night.

34. Increasing our minds with his keen insight—
Sustenance for minds and thoughts.

35. In discourse we turn to the learned one
Skilled in elucidating meanings’ intricacies.

36. The sweetness of his words nearly
Restores life to the decrepit body.

37. A garden of virtue rivalling
The flowers of his speech the stars’ blooms.

38. He surpasses the length of the staff of Quss
While Qays ibn al-Khatim falls short of him.

39. If you look upon his lofty qualities
You look upon mountains of sweetmeats.

40. When we recall his virtues, we are delighted—
They are like wine for the boon companion.

41. Tents were pitched in his honor, magnified.
The tents of the noblest are the noblest tents.

42. Among the excellent elite is there aught but
A generous man branching from generous stock?

43. He surpasses pearl in prose and verse
When compared to well-threaded pearls.

44. Where is musk compared to the breaths of a Shaykh
Who surpasses the fragrant zephyr?

45. He never ceases to address his questioners
With excellent character and forbearing nature.

46. Through him you attain knowledge and wisdom
And learn the excellence of Luqman the Wise.

47. He has mastered the noblest of morals
And is far from despicable character.

48. I presented to your loftiness my thoughts’ daughters—
They were given to the generous protector.

49. I envy the base their rhymes
So they are not granted the portion of the base.

50. I forbid my rhymes to lesser souls
As a jealous man guards his harem.