1. The delighted glances are not sorceresses breathing magic,
And the wine of bliss makes my two companions forgetful, not the wine.

2. The turtledoves are cooing; even if Harut and Marut come,
Breathing magic, they will not snatch the magic from it.

3. Below the solitary hill on the right side of the sanctuary,
There are gazelles, for which the lion of evil is a prisoner of love.

4. And a dark one among them, in whom are bubbling springs,
But she is veiled with pearls from her mouth.

5. I refrain from her, though I am her lover,
And even if I do not taste her, I will be drunk with longing for her.

6. She shot me with a passion whose weight is like the weight of her buttocks,
So here I am, made thin by it, resembling a waist.

7. By her buttocks and face and stature, I saw
The shaking of her braids and the swaying of her hair and full moon.

8. The visitors refused her shadow, desiring only her place of visitation.
So did you recognize separation and estrangement from her in the two worlds?

9. He walks upon the sand grouse of the ostriches submissively,
And he steps over the lynxes of the wildcats whenever he travels.

10. He came to Syria from the valleys of Hajar submissively,
And returned while the darkness of night conceals the dawn.

11. So I said to him, "Hello, welcome, greetings,
To the beloved visitor who has lengthened the journey."

12. The tents were struck by the east wind, its jinn making music,
And the hearts of the caravan inside them were terrified.

13. I got nothing from him but aloofness and rejection,
So I heard his complaint, and it distanced me.

14. He turned away and cast passion into my heart with his glance,
So the setting of my tears shed the mucus of my eyes.

15. I followed him when he turned, with a glance,
Like the glance of a wounded gazelle that splits rocks.

16. And the breaths of a raging lion - if he came near his breath,
The spear would be burnt by the spear, kindling embers.

17. He turned away before I got any sweetness from him.
Was it for him to torture me with vows?

18. Love refused except that after pride,
I am now humiliated by the one who enslaves the free with love.

19. No lover is one who does not submit with humiliation
To his beloved, when honor and glory are required.

20. When a man loves singing girls and draws near to them,
Desiring lasting wealth and youth,

21. Treat me well, in their eyes, with what I have,
Since my youth perished, and I have no more youth or plenty.

22. How can a lover attain the white and the brown
When he is seen bankrupt, without any white or yellow?

23. A shining thread of dawn became clear to me
Next to a gloomy thread - the parting line of hair.

24. It warned me of my youth when I did not hope for return,
And it parted from me, its shade and greenness.

25. Oh how I yearn for the pleasures of youth and its prime!
How good are its pleasures and how beautiful its prime!

26. Expecting Salah al-Din to be virtuous lessened my despair
Over the return of my youth; may he grant me plenty!

27. Good fortune shouted for him through time, with wealth,
But none complained of poverty except me.

28. It sufficed to take his place during his absences,
His good fortune taking luck's place, and for ill-fortune, its counterpart.

29. So welcome is the one who brings me eloquence!
He will be like the one who gave dried dates to estrangement.

30. His swords and his spears have become like him,
Grieving at the calamities of war - victory and triumph!

31. Damascus is paradise, good in its scent,
He is the sun; none has made for it besides him a veil.

32. O king of Islam, you have remained in the world
For ages, with good remembrance - oh, what a remembrance!

33. You attained what was beyond the hopes of wishes in your worldly life,
And reasoning was absorbed in thought of your kingdom.

34. Your generosity covered all people and singled them out,
And we have not seen before it generosity that filled the ages.

35. The brown refused that you should own it completely
And the drinking of the mouths of the white refused your conquest.

36. The she-camel foal ran with your galloping in battle,
A virgin she-camel upon which you wreak havoc with the virginity of war.

37. Your love, demolishing the tents of your enemies,
Reconciled the tents of hostility to live in the palaces.

38. Your entering the banners as yellow lions
And sending them out as banners saturating with red blood.

39. Your horses covering fearful cowardice with dishevelment,
Accustomed by you to victory and triumph.

40. You see war as a meadow, and the coats of mail upon it as meadows,
And the spearheads as blossoms and their poles as flowers.

41. Their blades glorified by your humiliating the enemies,
So they trampled cheeks that were terrible in their glory.

42. And how many an invincible fortress you married by surrendering,
Then divorced from it after its chastity of disbelief!

43. Islam then sang of it, raising its voice,
Singing, while the enemies looked upon it with dismay.

44. We did not willingly marry their brides,
Rather, we married them by force of our swords.

45. The armies of polytheism rushed to seek vengeance,
Facing you, so they were the sacrifice, awaiting slaughter.

46. They came to you, and the mouths of death were gaping
To stab them and strike them a violent blow.

47. You struck winter in its sinuses, striving,
Then you left an easy plain from what did not cease to be difficult.

48. Your army is not turned back from the enemies by heat,
Nor did it fear a rugged mountain or dread a boulder.

49. It is patient, as if patience were its companion that preoccupies it,
Whenever your enemies see patience, it sees patience.

50. The hearts of the Franks, all of them, are behind their rear,
While you in the land of Syria have terrified hearts.

51. May the God of mankind reward you with the best of His rewards
And make you succeed in the world and grant you gratitude.

52. Every day you bring a renewed victory,
Wishing by it good tidings, and you give us glad tidings,

53. With al-Malik al-Nasir, support increased,
We subdue the tyrants of time by force.

54. It suffices to take his place when his might grows intense,
His good fortune giving luck, and misfortune its counterpart.

55. He pursued humiliation with more humiliation,
And Caesar by force of swords - defeat.

56. And I have companions who lavished favors on me and them
With gifts that do not cease to be seen.

57. But I have less fortune than them
In what comes to me from his gifts.

58. And so my banners have become, in merit,
Yellow, while the hands of the people from it are yellow.

59. The utmost ingratitude is to make those
Five good deeds, in my view, ten.

60. Or to see them resembling his swords,
Wanting white but returning red.