1. The lightning laughed, so it made me weep blood,
And my tears flowed to it and blended.

2. Passion was stirred in its flashing,
A burning liver and an enamored heart.

3. I see my illness only as a heartache
From longing that is hidden and from streaming tears,

4. From a brilliance that shone and from lightning that smiled.
The cheerful lightning only frowned.

5. So it was as if the lightning in the wings of night
Dressed the darkness in a figured cloak.

6. It sneered about love and the secrets of passion,
Yet the secret of passion refused to be concealed.

7. O my boon companions! Is there any pause
After you from that fever's distress?

8. I recite a poem about the house where you dwelt,
Appealing to its ruins and its pillars.

9. O abodes of verdure I was familiar with,
The lion's den and shrine of the blood-price!

10. You made my tears flow in it
And decreed that passion should flame up.

11. Where are your inhabitants? Did the vipers
Moisten their abode with them or did they protect it?

12. My pact with the sand grouse of the valley
Was that the young bird took fright at the crow.

13. And myself among flocks of ostriches
Was a wronged man who did not pardon one who wronged him.

14. Truly in the glances of those sand grouse
Is a sickness that gives my body pain.

15. And a fair Babylonian whose glance
Is magic and whose coquetry is sweet.

16. God forbade my blood, though He saw
That He made lawful for him what He forbade.

17. How his glances shot arrows!
Oh what an excellent archer and sure shot!

18. I desire the sweetness of his lips
That made me drink in his love the bitter aloes.

19. His days have gone and vanished.
Were they, I wonder, a dream?

20. Excuse me with "perhaps" or "maybe,"
For "perhaps" will substitute for "perhaps" or "maybe."

21. Love was perplexed about love, so it was not
Equitable to the wronged against the wronger.

22. Would that it might judge justly between us
With the justice of David, when he gave judgment!

23. God supported religion by him, commander
Whose religion by him had a protector.

24. He has praiseworthy qualities; may he display them
As stars in the horizon of glory!

25. He attained maturity perfection and proof
Before attaining it in years.

26. And the structures of glory in his deeds-
He built them, constructing firmly.

27. A youth brought up obeying God, a lad
Who never ceased to be righteous, merciful and generous.

28. He excelled in merit those who excel
And attained in knowledge those who attain.

29. How many, of those he took charge of,
Eyes grew cheerless and noses were chafed!

30. A man, if he possessed the world, would not
Leave his hands devoid of a pauper.

31. When he is generous, water reaches the rain clouds,
And when he argues with an adversary, he refutes him.

32. His hands are spread in munificence, and never
Leave of what he acquires a single dirham.

33. He shows the truth lucidly and removes
From the darkness of doubt a gloomy night.

34. The chief of Hāshim, for he traces
His lineage to God's Messenger, the highest lineage.

35. A preacher - if he preaches to men they are guided
To the path of righteousness after blindness.

36. Whenever he utters a word to us
We utter pearls from his mouth as wisdom.

37. He strips the cloak from the heart, and leaves
No obscure matter in religion.

38. His word is conclusive, and in his judgments
You see the judgment an absolute decree.

39. If he decides a religious matter and it is done,
The obdurate yields to it and submits.

40. He removes the malady of ignorance, and how
Ignorance by him was removed and vanished!

41. The star of knowledge rose by him when stars rose,
And merit throve by him since it throve.

42. In religion among his peers
I did not find anyone firmer of foot than he.

43. He repels falsehood by the truth that
Rends mountains and makes highlands a plain.

44. He was content to be silent about the sand grouse
And sheathed the sword and let the pen flow.

45. Merit was found inaugurated by him;
I do not see it concluded by his loss.

46. The learned in religion, the guiding stars -
Each individual of them was a star.

47. You, by my life, are peerless;
We did not see you to have a peer.

48. You are the most dewy of men when dew is shed.
O pouring rain, O swelling sea!

49. Your days are the festivals of desires,
Where they had for wishes a season.

50. My master, you are for us the firmest
Handhold that will never be severed.

51. I compose poetry for you, your suppliant,
So accept in yourself what I have composed,

52. Mentioning the favors God has given you,
Favors that bring favors to us.