1. The alluring glances and the slender waists
Have tempted my eyes with their charm

2. So I was ignorant of averting my gaze
For it was my heart that was made so weak

3. Each day the alluring one raids me
Enamored with plundering my impassioned heart

4. She rested, though the battle did not rest
And her actions in slaughter were not weak

5. So if the hands of separation have reached out
And hidden a full moon behind the clouds

6. Then how much did I enjoy his company in a dwelling
Where my courtyard and summer home were pleasant

7. I left the falsehood of Iraq though my heart
Remained in its dear quarter

8. So I will lean toward Iraq with my supports
And prolong my stay in those lands

9. In it are houses amidst the dwellings
And suns of morning light behind partitions

10. So it surpassed every embroidered and pleated one
And beauty between chatter and joy

11. The goal has passed so I remain shaven-headed after them
Aged, clapping when I become empty-handed

12. So I rationalize being prevented from meeting them with wishes
And I live after the people with procrastination

13. The adherence of sickness has separated my joints
By the hand of distance and denied knowing me

14. So I became known for delightful love, just as
The hand of al-Mansur was known for conferring office

15. The humbling of kings and their stars and crescent moons
Is the refuge of the outcast and sanctuary for the distraught

16. A mind that turns over the affairs of its time
My glance is adept in the renowned times

17. A dawn that when the darkness darkens its night
Dispels its gloom with its well-known justice

18. A duty upon its swords and spears
He has made it rebound with justice and deflecting strokes

19. His hands destroyed with vigor so he ruined
What it contained of the languid and gentle

20. His motto in war is charging flanks
And his habit in peace is bestowing thousands

21. He alternated time by his two states, so his world
Is two days: a day of dew and a day of clouding over

22. So for that I have found solace in staying in his quarter
Between two fires: the fire of turmoil and the fire of hospitality

23. A mind, but in the hearing of his mind
Deaf to binding and rebuke

24. The palms of the maidens increase his generosity
And make them tremble despite their pride

25. He dispatched the armies with a sovereign determination
That enriches him beyond scheming and swords

26. The course of destiny follows his decree
Critical matters are conveyed to him for ennoblement

27. Superiority through which he has surpassed people, and an ambition
By which he rode highness without a companion

28. So here, by composing his narrative, even though
We do not intend by it anything but ennoblement

29. Through it we have attained tremendous success against harm
And in its refuge we are safe from every fear