1. The breeze whispered in the garden's secret,
And the east ignited the morning’s flint.

2. The roses blushed at the brilliance of dawn,
So the buds smiled.

3. And in the meadow, to mourn nightfall,
Doves trilled, singing their refrain

4. Since dawn was born and dusk had died,
They cried out – we couldn’t tell joy from grief.

5. On a gloomy day when its sun was veiled
And its night shone with the sun of your smile,

6. We thought the morn was but dusk
And reckoned the night as dawn.

7. Your smile met the light of morn
Seeking delight in the waking hours.

8. Thus, between two lights I sat enthralled
By your smiling visage and the dawn’s first glow.

9. With a grace that stirs life’s water
To rise in their eyes, enhancing their allure.

10. They intoxicate us with the wine of their glances
And mix earnestness for us with gentle teasing.

11. With their look they give drink and with their words
A draught from their saliva, pure untainted wine.

12. Gazelles whose loveliness inspires poetry,
A figure for which spears are made.

13. O you who blame me for praising such beauty
And heed the critics’ pompous clatter,

14. Loving the curly-haired one distracts me
From loving one who wears a face veil.

15. Let me live out my life in rapture,
Following the path of passion and the wind’s whim.

16. Before the caller of fate summons me away
And I find no comfort or solace there.

17. So each day, despite the proud ones’ scorn
In every land estrangement and discomfort await me.

18. Squandering a lifetime, failing of my hopes,
Between accepting fate and spurning fate’s decree.

19. And many a night I crossed its currents
With a steed outstripping the wind’s pace,

20. Of surpassing pedigree and special markings,
Auspicious and clearly destined for great deeds.

21. As if he cleaved the sea of gloom
And beyond it plunged into dawn’s pool.

22. Eyes could not tell in his galloping gait
If they saw him fade into the distance or take wing on high.

23. From my inner conscience he could read
Did I lag behind through sloth or zeal make haste?

24. Since life lost its savor he saw his course lie
With that righteous ruler, pillar of justice.

25. That eminent king whose gratitude
Became a lesson and established tradition.

26. Impregnable in glory, lofty in station
None could aspire to what he possessed.

27. With keen intellect he all but surpassed
The judgments of fate that transpire.

28. A generous hand, when he was inclined to give
Became a lifetime, and when he showed zeal, a weapon.

29. With a generous heart, whenever the breeze
Of praise blew through it, he found comfort.

30. O you who shoulder burdens after others
Faltered and gave up, seeking rest.

31. Without you, O raincloud, the crops of dew
Would be reduced to shreds scattered by the winds.

32. O son of one to whom the world made pilgrimage
For he was a Kaaba of noble deeds.

33. If I fall short in approaching you,
I do not fail in singing your praises.

34. I make the earth turn green with your glory
And my poetry a cloak, dark like the mourner's gown.

35. I weigh down its metaphors with effort
As humiliation weighs down the wings of the lowly.

36. When the delegates recite it, people say
“This is sorcery, untainted and permissible.”

37. The mention of you is like musk, but
When the breeze of praise blows past it, its scent surrounds all.