1. It pained my heart with the sands of Ramah
Yet the heart knows no pity near the sands

2. Haughty yet submissive to the submissive one
Yearning foolishly then foolishly rushing on

3. Whether death looks on or turns away
The arrows strike true, their drawing is agony

4. Love of the clouds oft times makes him smile
While the pearl laments the necklace that confined

5. To my love I betray no sign to the watcher
My body is sick from a sickly glance

6. If I but tasted the cold of his acceptance
From my sickness I'd recover, his coolness a balm

7. Since we parted I've tasted no joy in living
Water's become poison, the breeze naught but harm

8. By the life of our exalted lord, his portion
Allotted us, if you did but know, is supreme

9. For his love I burn, no flames did Abraham know
A king the Arabs flee, fearful, and the non-Arabs

10. Leave home as the Romans, before his white arrows
Breaking the swarthy warriors, crushing in fight

11. A lion he seems, snarling, routing the troops
Riding the land, striking as he desires

12. If only those rites had souls, for them Zamzam
And the Black Stone, he'd strive with a will

13. A king versed in every branch of knowledge
He rose high, no science too hard for his skill

14. Grammar for him has Sibawayh as companion
Farisi, a crony, poetry a servant, he

15. When crowned his glory radiant, new and old,
By pilgrimage achieved with total success

16. Jurisprudence authorities all fell behind
When he by skill and talent took the lead

17. By the doctrine of Nu'man he was blessed
In his horizon the stars of good fortune shone

18. Had Sa'd assisted the mamluk he would have walked
In the shade of the magnificent king's glory

19. But lagging behind deprived of all blessings
He missed it and hell became his miserable doom

20. Thirst in his heart the abode could not quench
Yearning ever present nor leaving its home

21. When away like the companion of the whale
Who called on his Lord in misery extreme

22. Without the mercy of his Lord he'd have been cast
In the wilds exposed, despised and unclean

23. O mighty obeyed king, your troops
With their white arrows pressed firmly in hand

24. On the Plain how you've spread your generous deeds
Reviving munificence once turned to dust

25. Where now the thorns are roses, gravel pearls
The brackish water turns fresh, the brambles to vines

26. Ever since you left Damascus my heart remains
Full of yearning, still and ever present

27. I turn to your noble door kissing its sill
My streaming tears plentiful and abundant

28. You are the sun, if you leave us for setting
Deepest gloom will prevail, most violent

29. May the exalted king never quit his domain
May all prostrate to him, his glory confess!