1. They said, "Good morning, O one who saw its determination,
Its logic is mature and its passion a youth."

2. Perhaps he hunted and they did not know,
His permitted hunting, not forbidden.

3. Or a hidden love visited him,
Preoccupying him in illusion, not in sleep.

4. As if the statue of Salma appeared to him,
Radiating from it bashfulness and modesty.

5. And perhaps the longing of the youth was provoked,
By the flashing of lightning and the cooing of doves.

6. Or a breeze scented from a garden,
Reviving from youth dry bones.

7. The gazelle of the herd whose body
Is essence of musk not capped with a seal.

8. By God what it pictured in my mind,
The coolness of wishes from it and the heat of passion.

9. She walks the drunkenness of confusion in her charm,
Swaying from her with balance of stature.

10. O you who saw in a branch of a garden,
Hearing from it the speech of partridges.

11. Informing who succeeded in kissing her,
Of coolness springing from it, wine.

12. More conscious than perfume in its fire,
That which the pearl’s clearness did not dye with basil.

13. As if in her mouth a scent, when
The light gushed and the darkness moaned.

14. A smooth bodied gazelle, its touch
For the yellowish complexion blamable.

15. Distance has claimed her so beyond her
Is riding a surging wave with a crest.

16. Souls travel between us
And the secret between us has concealment.

17. As if her breaths carry
Agreeableness infused with the musk of peace.

18. And she of chastity did not know he who
Was infatuated with her, obsessed and raving.

19. Deadly with a glance and more merciful
Than her to the obsessed heart that adored.

20. As if Ali’s sword on the day of splitting skulls,
Taught it deadliness.

21. A ruler in the kingdom of his fathers,
Which noble one begot him, so noble?

22. With such prestige as if in his grasp,
Is the firmness of mountains and the fullness of the moon.

23. His tongue translates him,
What he means or the tongue of swords.

24. And every arrogant one who came to his land,
Kissed the stirrup despite him, willingly or not.

25. He brings forth between calamities when
The daring did not refrain from him and weaken.

26. He fills the side of the spear from a stab
Whose cleft gushes while he holds it.

27. Supported by God, protected
For religion, support for it and steadfastness.

28. The tongues of enemies in his war
Are stabber than them an awl in felt.

29. Whose palm is the Kaaba of generosity,
A pillar for us, its palm a touch and handshake.

30. Do not consider it a stone, it is
Of the pourer of good, sister of clouds.

31. Praise extends his palm to pour dew
As it extends the spear on the day of assault.

32. And a hand withholds deprivation from him,
Extending to delegations great gifts.

33. The sea has foam from the wind, likewise
Its generosity if you blame it.

34. If you saw the rider of steeds preceding them,
Before it a precedence that stirs war.

35. Indeed the spears are inspired
In the spear and the slayer leads them in it.

36. Let not his enemies feel safe with his pardon,
For war is the abode of vengeance.

37. I fear though death is destined,
That the fast be broken after fasting.

38. He dictates to those tempted by him vengeance
With slowness in withdrawal, the penetration of arrows.

39. If we are confused, say to us
Was it placidity or zeal his patience?

40. Had the transgressor resorted to his honor,
Degradation would not have sat upon him and stood.

41. Singular in his might within himself,
His stillness in it the churning of resolve.

42. As if he is an inspired army, an inspired
Army of brave lions, inspired.

43. Their clothes in it and their crowns
Are snakes’ shirts and ostriches’ plumes.

44. Of every killer among his peers
He has a life that feasts on doves.

45. The shriek of dread and taste of havoc
To him is like the addiction to drinking a cup.

46. Indeed the son of Yahya who whenever life
In the time of need shrieks, is harmonious.

47. So from modesty you do not see his face
Unless the clouds have a wrap on it.

48. If we crowd in his fields
The fresh watering hole has ample crowds.

49. We have from the hours of his joys
Good fortune that people do not shorten.

50. I swear the bliss of his days
In the gloom of days is but a smile.

51. O you who when times lean from us,
Straighten them by your rule and they straightened.

52. For you are the meadows and plains where
Water dispersed in the low lands.

53. Of every bounding joy like the morning breeze
Flying freely, not restricted.

54. And all excess in his eyelid
The eye of havoc awake, not asleep.

55. You have been just to your concerns—be greater through them
Concerns were not done justice by determination.

56. May the year you desire meet you
And live after it a thousand years.

57. Indeed wishes in its course are systemized
And it is the first pearl of order.

58. Compare good fortune on its horizon,
While you are in life the peer of continuity.

59. My eulogy is a lion in honor
Whose target is distant in aspiration.

60. Generosity through your auspice is living
And direction through your felicity holds the reins.