1. She went to the meadows of Nu'man and its valleys,
The clouds wandering above, shading its valleys.

2. From every gentle breeze, lightning adorns it,
As if the smile of Sa'di glistening through it.

3. Its dwellings have become remote in Syria,
Oh how far you are from it, though yearning draws you near.

4. Defiantly white within it, against any who would oppose it,
Purposefully pure to any who would be pure towards it.

5. It turned away, neither remembering the days of separation,
Nor I remembering the days we were parted.

6. She walks but the flowing of her garment weighs on her,
As if she were a gazelle adorned with necklaces.

7. As if a basil plant folded in the cold,
The breeze caressed her at dawn's first light.

8. She visited, spying from the hill's ridge,
Conveying the passion in my heart through her glances.

9. She moves furtively while the night's poetry conceals her
From eyes, though the smile of dawn reveals her.

10. None knows longing save those who endure it,
None knows youth save those who suffer it.

11. None knows generosity save those inspired by it -
God's Caliph who founded it and refined it.

12. His caliphate settled on the bosom of the world,
Never moving, its foundations never shaken.

13. He attained it without pretension, for he was destined for it,
Lost, until finding it, and adorning himself through it.

14. He strove for the highest goal until reaching it,
When seeking it exceeded the efforts of its seeker.

15. He showers generosity, however much grace he bestows on us,
Never veiling it from the eyes of those who seek it.

16. Traits he has which show his nature -
Pure, like the wafting of gentle winds.

17. Gentle of manner, auspicious of conduct,
You see high ideals manifest in his character.

18. He surges forth spontaneously toward benevolence,
Racing ahead, spurring on its forelocks.

19. His is speech of munificence, no doubt in it -
His benevolence inundating the horizons, watering them.

20. He has determination like a hurling arrow -
He mounts it against the enemy, hurling and propelling it.

21. It kills the hopes of those who oppose us, scattering them,
As fate scatters events, gathering them up.

22. From a bouquet whose branches were watered and became lush
When plucked, freely plucked by the plucker.

23. He counts in pride al-'Abbas first among them,
Glory, and the follower of God comes second.

24. They gave governance to the aide Awn al-Din, so he
Ruled justly, and thus guided its bow rightly.

25. His views invigorate me, though war is dark,
Its expanses bring no aid but his lofty hills.

26. For him, I have rewards which I have decreed -
Along with eloquence, though I cannot equal it.

27. We quenched our hopes, after they thirsted,
With the water of bounty, so its pasture became green.

28. If I survey a land, it becomes fertile and flourishing,
Its barrenness disappears, its poles shake.

29. How not, when radiant Spring smiles in its meadows,
And the dew tilts toward its sides?

30. So arise - I have consented willingly -
For you, the wilderness, its near and far parts.

31. Pour out gifts in cash, not postponed,
Unlike others who forget and neglect them.

32. Grant me a swift camel filly challenging the winds,
That rivals them however much they blow.

33. If I do not hurl the foe's column with it,
Then I have no guide to lead it to pasture.

34. Let people know I am a valiant poet,
Not like those who pretend to such arts.

35. And hear an enchanting eloquence, precise,
Beauty its guide, nature its leader.

36. It narrates but no listener grows weary of repetition,
Nor any reciter tire of chanting it.

37. She spurned the gifts of the miserly, so he still
Forcibly seizes what she does not permit.

38. I made her precious after cheapness, so she became proud,
Maintaining her worth, though I made her yet more precious.

39. I say, after having loved your state:
My usefulness to Layla is the excess of my love for her.