1. I stood at the abode of Layla which strong winds
Had changed, erasing its familiar features.

2. My eyes poured tears like scrolling lines
Of poetry, so copious and successive.

3. I asked about the cause of our separation, though
I knew the muteness of its walls and stones.

4. For our past days were white, intimate, like the gatherings
Of friends, concealing what is indecent to disclose.

5. When the fox cried out, the branches of the withered lotus
Swayed, and they swayed with it the singing doves.

6. Among them the scarves flutter as if they were
A rod, bending to the ground from the weight.

7. Oh would that I knew where his tomb was,
Though distance and description stood between us.

8. By day I walk the land silent and brooding
At night, my heart burns with embers in my chest.

9. I struggle throughout the pain of absence trying
To restrain my passion, though windswept plains reveal it.

10. And if my intention is to visit his grave,
My heart flutters anxiously in anticipation.

11. I say to a caravan determined to cross the deserted land
On she-camels whose curves sway with their walk:

12. Stop and tell me of the meadows of Ramah,
If clouds have rained down there, pouring out sorrows.

13. And have the meadows of Layla’ echoed with sound since we left?
Have anthems replayed in them?

14. It has watered plateaus after desire faded,
As the rain of beneficence soaked the highlands.

15. And it poured generosity in the meadows - every parasite
Was routed, and routed again likewise.

16. So I have a dwelling between the encampments of her tribe
Too difficult for exchanging messages to reach.

17. It remains overlooking me when I decide to leave,
Gazing at me while tears pour profusely.

18. O my friend, I bid farewell to pleasures, and my hopes
In his land were destroyed, and the covenants.

19. The dawn of old age gave notice in the night of my adversity,
So I turned away, though I regret the night.

20. It distanced those we delighted in their nearness,
While others passed away, and time brought additional sorrows.

21. Men, eras, and the prime of my youth are gone,
While days with the beloved were redoubled.

22. So say what you wish to a heart that is cracked
With the sorrow of loss - I speak from experience.

23. I made my nights, when companionship was denied me,
Pages written by centuries of stories.

24. Sometimes I converse with every worthy scholar
When his call stirs the gentle passions.

25. And sometimes it is as if I am with Zuhair and Jarwal,
Or kings of imagination speak to me.

26. I consoled myself about all through memories of a people
Whose glory in high deeds was longstanding and singular.

27. With them the night was illumined. They mastered those around them
And those distant - like fortified caves for one in distress.

28. Welcoming in privation, obeyed in commotion,
Seas that no turbulence could stir.

29. A springtime for people whose homelands had abandoned them
When the calamities of years overwhelmed.

30. They adopted them out of merit, with no marriage
Or lineage binding them, nor even familiarity.

31. They forgot their own brothers and homes
So many widows lament the nobility of the buried!

32. Good fortunes to the proud tribe of Qasim
Whose glories remain long after opponents vanish.

33. They are a people of nobility, if you desire it,
But if evil, then dark lions that ravage.

34. I wish them well, but I have a greater attachment
To one who settled in the grave - no emotions beyond.

35. May God water a grave in which Saib rests,
And join him to success on the Day of Reckoning.

36. Indeed Mahmoud of Naqibah was seen to be no reckless soul
When swords were harvesting lives.

37. And I have, after him, a love of the most glorious Mansur -
A father to the noble ones, and steadfast in covenant.

38. When the deluded leader fails in his endeavor
And those who tend livestock despair from want -

39. Thereupon, either a supporter appears, or a reinforcer
To whom the desperate flees, pleading and obedient.

40. So too, if adversity bares its claws
And hearts cower, and fierce minds withdrawal -

41. You will see the visage of Ibn Qasim glow radiantly
While faces around him grim with fear.

42. And if it is said Abdullah fulfilled a difficult matter,
A resentful critic will pronounce it a violation.

43. Did you not see him generously giving and boldly
Confronting terrors - though they are fears?

44. So say to one who strives to attain his goal:
"Gently! Glory lies not in heights you can scale."

45. You fell in love with something in the hand of a master;
It is futile! His actions you cannot match!

46. For glory is but a treasure in the forbidden;
Below reaching it are formidable obstacles.

47. And I have verses wandering desolate in the highlands
That tremble when recited by the storytellers.

48. Desolate, but for your praise giving them life,
Silent, but for your greatness awakening music.

49. No verse is a finer seal than salawat and peace
Upon the God who multiplies blessings,

50. And upon the Trustworthy Guide, his family
And companions - as long as pilgrims circle the House.