1. I am not the singer of love songs with a tender voice,
Nor one who sings melodiously over the chord of a lute.

2. I said to my heart: Have patience and be steadfast,
It said: No way! How can I and from where?

3. I became insane and my insanity increases
Multifold when the night falls in darkness.

4. And my affliction is that when I complain to it,
It shies away from me.

5. Slaughter my boon companion and let me drink
His blood until I see things double through intoxication.

6. Keep pouring the cups constantly, for they
Distract the worries when we turn away from them.

7. Coffee that makes the bow taut become slack
Due to its heat, so that the taut bow kneels in humility.

8. The sun of comfort has risen like a moon
Over the branch of a sand dune bending.

9. And whenever its limbs swayed to us in a dance,
They produced kindness and beauty as fruits.

10. It gathered with its feet the pearls of melodies,
And with them hearts find their joy in singing.

11. By God, if we were able to fly in rapture,
We would have flown in bliss from it.

12. Among us there is none but one infatuated with it,
Even the riding beasts were stirred with yearning at its sight.

13. The most beautiful of countenance, its beauty is exquisite,
For it is the houri of meanings, in it we delighted.

14. Anyone beautiful when compared to it
Is but words, while it is meaning beneath the words.

15. It is more radiant than the morning sun, and were
Its eye to look at the sun, the sun would be outshone.

16. Its beauty is Joseph-like, taking
The kernel of hearts as its dwelling and prison.

17. To abandon my love for the Turk would be
A futile act - God forbid such loss and deprivation!

18. Its years reached seven and seven,
So it is like the full moon, lofty and brilliant.

19. The narrowness of eyelids expanded from it
And the paths of love in my troubled heart widened.

20. Everything beautiful has been outshined by it
So look at a mouth and eyelid made narrow by it.

21. The weaver cannot do what it does -
Closing the eyelids when the eyelash is made delicate.

22. It said to me: You have no power over me,
Make lighter your assaults when the purse becomes lighter.

23. I said: God is with me, then I became happy
With the little I gained that enriched and sufficed me.

24. My lord, how many enemies has it destroyed, yet
None saw in it any weakness or frailty!

25. Its claws were always sharp, so if the
Clouds were miserly one day, they were thought to be booty.

26. With it there was no fortress for the audacious
That we feared, so we distanced ourselves from it.

27. It destroys the enemies with the sword and
Spear on the day of battle with blows and stabs.

28. The brave said: "This death is terrible,
No critic can blame us if we distanced ourselves from it."

29. And if it ordered us one day to bow down to it
In prostration, we would listen and obey.

30. So the pillars of religion stood firm in
Egypt and Syria, and how many pillars it strengthened!

31. Birds would come to it on raids
And meet the army from here and there.

32. It conquered Acre and Marj and
Buried the enemies in the moat with burial.

33. So it was as if when it brought them
It brought them to slaughter on the day of slaughter as sacrificial animals.

34. Its piercing stab turned the banners yellow,
And with it palaces were built in audacity.

35. So it turns to war, and it is a name and a verb,
While the rest are particles when they come for a meaning.

36. And how little it is for Saracen to be given
Provinces and cities in the kingdom!

37. A horseman - had it not been for the stagnancy of blood
In his sword he would have sailed with it in the land as ships.

38. The lion of faith - whenever it confronted a
Lion, the lion retreated in fright.

39. It never shot at the enemies
Except that its empty quiver made it an angel shooting stars.

40. Who can protect me from a treacherous time
That betrayed tongues from destitution as a refuge?

41. Its heart is harsh, so it does not go back on
Its heart wherever I sought protection frightened.

42. Blaming it is more harmful than benefaction, so they
Became, in its hospitality, contrary to expectation stingy.

43. Yet Saracen's generosity remains,
So we were kneaded to it when we were threshed.

44. My pledges were locked into it, so it engaged
For me as a redeemer, and did not fail to recover any pledge.

45. Saracen imposed the abrogated verse of favor,
The lion of faith, and made it valid and binding.

46. It gives pregnant she-camels as gifts and
Mules and fine steeds.

47. From the elite of the Turks it loves to earn
Praise through wealth like Qays's love for Lubna.

48. So it has the station of sultan in the
Kingdom, becoming a bow or closer.

49. Syria is fortunate whenever it settles in it
And suffers if it distances itself disgraced and weak.

50. The people of hopes did not fear poverty from it
When it overwhelms the people with abundant favors from us.

51. O Saracen, take this as a eulogy -
Its beauty inherited grief in whoever was your enemy.

52. Give him glad tidings - ease follows hardship
With blessings from the dew of favors that gratified him.

53. Whoever is supported by the lion of faith in Damascus
Will not fear poverty, as it enriches him with riches.

54. Those who heard it resembled whirling dervishes
Dancing when the witness sang.

55. Say to it: Greetings and welcome to her
Who has often traversed long distances and sorrows to reach us.

56. Say hello, goodbye, stay, enjoy forever,
Fulfilling beyond what you may wish for.