1. You have raised between the stars and the Pleiades
A palace built of pure joy

2. Its beauty outshines Khawarnaq and Sadir
And its pinnacle reaches the sky

3. When you look upon the steps of his kingdom
And the proof of evidence appears before you

4. You make al-Mansur the foremost of the exalted
And turn away from Kisra Anushirwan

5. A palace that belittles all description
Of its beauty and kindness

6. As if it were made of a transparent pearl
Dazzling eyes with its radiance

7. None can climb to its balconies
Except by the ladder of fascinated glances

8. Go up to the land of al-Nasiriya so you may see
The nobility of the place and the power of possibility

9. In a melodious, paradisiacal garden
Surrounded by spirit and sweet basil

10. Ablaze with embers from its orange trees
As if created from fire

11. As if spheres of red myrrh
With rods made of reed-stalks

12. The boastful citron said to it, "Calm yourself
Until you acquire the qualities of faith!"

13. To me is the fragrance of the beloved when he draws near,
Sweet though he be ugly in appearance

14. From me is dyed the hand of the dyer
When he opens his palms, for the cracks of each jar are like my cracks

15. The water from it is silvery ingots
Melted on the slopes of Shadhrwan

16. As if there were a sword there all notched
Which the hand of a coward cast away in battle

17. How many stately figures in it lengthen in astonishment
At a picture that grew from the knotty wood

18. Wondrously, it waters gardens with fountains
That sprang from fruits and boughs

19. It focused on a bird unlike any other
Made beautiful and singular among all others

20. Surpassing the bashful birds in eloquence
And clarity of speech and expression

21. If it were given leave to speak it would discourse
With the murmur of water flowing steadily

22. As if its maker monopolized the art
And inanimate matter prided itself over the animal

23. It overlooks a basin, as if
It and the basin's marvel reflect each other

24. As if it thought the sweetness of its water to be
Honey, and so tasted it with every tongue

25. In its interior is a pipe through which water
Shows you the flow in flight

26. Poised like a spear where you see it has
For its piercing of the throat a curving point

27. As if it casts the sky with a pellet gun
Derived from pearl and ore

28. If that water turned to naphtha it would set aflame
The shirt of every obstinate one in the air

29. In a pool set on its banks
Crouch lions, humble before the Sultan's might

30. They have turned their souls to oppressing souls
And so have been severed from their bodies

31. As if the pool's coolness quenches
The glowing embers of aggression

32. As if snakes do not dread it
And so received a pact of security from al-Mansur

33. How many gatherings where happiness races
Against the steeds of joy in the racecourse

34. Their blood rising to their cheeks saltily
As if it were the prayer niche of a scabbard

35. So its ceiling in its loftiness is celestial
And its domes stellar in architecture