1. You were stingy, though my eyes were not miserly toward you,
And many a drink I gave which no cupbearer could see.

2. You forbade a thirsty man to sate himself on your radiance.
There is no path to the water of al-Udhayb.

3. Darker than one who wrongs the rain-clouds in passion
Is a twisting, religion-bending, lovesick fool.

4. How often you made promises, but the hopes were dashed!
Many are the singing girls, but few who are sincere.

5. Restore to my eyes, O light of my eyes, a glance
Through which the anguish of your lover may be relieved.

6. My being was severed from me by a phantom of you
Which left me grieving for the campsite and the plains.

7. In my heart is a passion for that apparition I saw,
A madness that desire cannot turn aside.

8. My night is like my fortune in loving you—
The night of lovers has ever been long.

9. I am troubled in it by the flash of lightning
Like the polished Indian sword when drawn from its sheath.

10. A starry night whose shooting stars seem
To rend the darkness' robe with piercing lights.

11. The smile of lightning reminds me of your smile,
Making the tears flow down in streams.

12. The signs of flowers and their flash point to you,
But I have no access to you, O wish of mine.

13. A glance brings the dark eye no benefit
If the desired object is out of reach.

14. Does the blood shed by his eyelids, more woeful than kohl,
Not torment my friend Khalil?

15. A gazelle with eyes like a preserve pelted me with glances
When the caravan departed and urged on the riding beast.

16. Despite myself, I left those I loved,
And now I moan and lament their loss.

17. They left me only the remainder of tears
I shed copiously, distraught without them.

18. They trail stars extinguishing in the horizon,
Setting like my companions in the west.

19. One dawn we stopped, and the mounts stood like
A line of camels grumbling with thirst.

20. I came upon some ruins I had known before
Yet now in my knowledge of them I was ignorant.

21. The morning breeze reminded me of the intoxication of youth.
Are you by any chance a messenger from Layla this morning?

22. You wafted fragrantly, and I could not tell
Which of us was more ill from the whiffs of passion.

23. When will I abandon the she-camels that seem
To find the way whenever the guide goes astray?

24. The ruins took the barren wilderness as a consort,
Yet my meadows are in Iraq—how far away!

25. Had I been one who drinks muddy water for wine,
I could have quenched my thirst with the water of the lowly.

26. I seek refuge from mankind in ʿAbd al-Ghani,
For every deed of the beautiful son is beautiful.

27. Noble is his life—serene beneath his shadow,
And refreshing is his shadow—shady and cool.

28. Quick to do good deeds, none faster than he
In seizing opportunities as they arise.

29. In speech, he surpasses both the sedentary and active people
And few among mankind match his deeds.

30. I will alight with my hopes in the land of the valiant one
Who never oppressed a guest in his sanctuary.

31. Baghdad boasted of him, and the tails of pride
In the region of Iraq trailed behind him.

32. His link to glory, since his early youth,
Is like a pouring rain no drought withheld.

33. The mother of virtues nurtured him with her milk,
And the branches thrived as the roots were sound.

34. He never plunged into perils but with caution,
And none meets the glorious one but the glorious.

35. No terror deterred him; his spear remained erect.
That spear never wilted or drooped.

36. I see every woe whose harm hurt him
Wiped out by his might and thus removed.

37. Despite his intense might he always
Melted gently toward us and flowed.

38. Those attributes soften toward us
Like the bending north wind or south wind.

39. He yearns for a day to raise its dust—
The clash of arms—as nobles love and desire.

40. He turns about the mill of war where the bold
Quaff a drink for heroes, ever gulping it down.

41. When affairs were confusing, he led them
With obeyed command, and they submitted.

42. For certain, the changing fortunes are to us
As a mountain, while the world totters about.

43. Without him the fire of evil would not die out
Nor would the torrent against the wrongdoer flood forth.

44. May God grant you, for you are all goodness,
And through you I am guaranteed and secure.

45. You attained for us that which we hoped for,
Teaching the clouds' course to change direction.

46. Though we despair of the dew, through you we hope
For the evening clouds to shower down.

47. You have no weariness in giving nor boredom,
While others, though the stream of gifts flows on, tire.

48. You never changed your nature, which you were
Created upon though time brings change.

49. Would that I knew—while sorrows engulf me—
Why you are heedless of me amid calamities!

50. Why do I spur myself on though progress falters?
Why sharpen my resolve though it is blunted?

51. Seeking from fate what, in my imagination,
My time denies me? Never, for fate is miserly!

52. How can fate show me what I deserve
When next to this time my merits are redundant?

53. When I rise up with resolve, still I sit
Reluctantly regarding such resolve as frail.

54. I have a lineage whose honor no worthless one can desecrate
Nor does a noble man suffer shame through them.

55. Thirsty she-camels seeking water, roaming
Among their peers, traveling far and wide.

56. They avoided the vile folk and so did not taste
The assistance of a helper or the betrayal of a traitor.

57. Whenever they were led astray by vain hopes,
He turned them away, driving off the ignoble.

58. How oblivious are the days in their ignorance!
Among people are types resembling them.

59. If only they would heed my reproach, I would make them taste
A long reproach—but what use is complaining?

60. Reproach profits nothing when there is no just arbiter
I can tell what I wish, but he only says: