1. I sent you her gentle spirit,
And from the visit let that suffice,

2. And if the beloved goes far and sadness returns to you,
Then her spirit is enough for you, and wishes are dreams.

3. As for me, the eyelids of my eyes have never known
Anything but wakefulness for their likeness in dreams.

4. And my eyelids pouring with tears
Are like continuous rain ruining their kohl.

5. As if Layla's life were the days of intimacy,
And as if her moments were years.

6. And I, whose heart and body are devoted
To the beloved's intimacy - no failing or sickness.

7. Two adversaries, though each claims to love her,
And my life's misfortune stirs up discord.

8. I am someone who in every land has a helper,
And scattered poems and passion aplenty;

9. Someone who is inclined by the charms of the fair,
And it's as if my breaths beside them are wine;

10. Someone who excels in praise of them - if their sighs appear,
It's as though they contain arrows.

11. Between me and fate are upheavals
That don't cease between us or conflict.

12. However we come together, I see you with my ruin,
And you see me obsessed and distraught.

13. Ask the morning breeze - if the morning breeze touched your hand -
Did my loving eyes sleep through your disdain?

14. O you, if you don't know passion,
Don't disparage it, for passion holds firm.

15. And your father - I'd be content with you
And sincerely make my speech from your disdain.

16. Magic is only in my eloquence
And beauty only concluded by my signet ring.

17. Safe from illusions overtaking it
Lest they extend a hand to its sanctity.

18. Abstaining, not drawing near its tryst,
Nor does its imagination reach it.

19. Until sickness crept into my gaze,
And indeed its injustice meets darkness.

20. Its cures multiplied - with a glance,
It formed a watcher, and in calling, blame.

21. A thousand avoidance in your love - so draw near it -
For people after you, fortune and peace.

22. And I have met from fate and its people
What tribes cannot withstand with their pledge.

23. Do you not see me shunned or have not seen -
Is there anyone among them I'd hope for conciliation?

24. Except the prince Abu Nud and glory Othman -
The resolute, complete man of perfection;

25. The fierce fighter, by whom idols are smashed
With God, and the pigeons flock to none but him.

26. A hero - if war stirs its flames,
The sparks of scowls, he is among them a firebrand.

27. He leaves the ostrich, and the gathering of the tribe cannot be mended,
And with the pigeons, the tribe cannot be completed.

28. You see enemies out of awe like nightmares
Engulfing them in his likeness in their dreams.

29. A lion - when enemies see his sharp sword,
Their hearts, before their bodies, are rubble.

30. He is like the true religion, strengthened
By God, while the idols are crushed by him.

31. A sword Time has shaken from its sheath,
And beside him people are bits of straw.

32. Good birth is from his good deeds,
And from his views, inspiration.

33. He and virtues are ever present, and the garden -
Mankind's eye is toward him in slumber.

34. Wisdom is the garden his being illuminates,
While others are thorns and thickets.

35. Generosity is an ocean, and he is its pearl;
Glory is a home, and he is its pillar.

36. O origin of roses, and he is a cloud,
And the origins of envy, and he is a sword.

37. Meeting your time with valor like charity,
As brocade and the belt are joined.

38. You have negated all past times,
And done what the eyelids cannot do.

39. You have sent clouds of your help, flashing lightning,
So may those in Damascus redeem you when they resort to you,

40. Seeking to gain from a glance of yours,
One that would heal the sick among us.

41. The greatest union of manhood and munificence
In a youth, whom days have extended to us!

42. So we ask God that you remain for us, and that
Your life may ransom our years.

43. And may your son - O man of resolution - persist
In bowing until it is said: Son of the resolute man!

44. My master, O you of the two lights - a plea
Of one whose hopes have ended in sorrows:

45. A heart whose journeying doesn't cease,
And in drawing near, the vertebrae ache.

46. It left him knowing people in solitude
Except for his religion, Islam.

47. And my complaint seeks no other door than yours,
For eyes are for heads a dwelling.

48. Without your merit, who would guarantee
Poets' protection or regard for their belongings?

49. Spare me and others, for poems are permitted
To none but you - to all others prohibited.

50. Time has departed - so its final dot has come,
Take pride, for the era is concluded by you.

51. I came to you, and my hopes were my companions,
And despair the letter Qaf, and hope ahead.

52. Explaining: my day I will favor praising you,
And that my aim in you is perfection.

53. I learned that from you I obtain riches
When I praised you while worries slept.

54. If you patronize me, you patronize a poet for yourself
Whose poetry amazes minds.

55. Of rare making, he does not humiliate himself for pleasure,
And by his chaste spirit rules unruly souls.

56. You will find enemies nil in his eyes, but
Only lack of generosity - and it is right for you to destroy.

57. I am the eye of the knowledge of poetry, renewing its features,
And into it my letter Meem and Lam have entered.

58. And it is right for poets to refrain
From the protectiveness of my poetry's plunge.