1. The full moon's beauty is such that it is said to be peerless,
Yet we say that, by this, its peer is belittled.

2. And the branches of the wild plum are content that their stature
Be measured by it, as well as its like and its peer.

3. She walked freely, a captive of love, her gaze averted.
Her beauty decreed that her captor not be freed.

4. The passionate pine for her behind her veil.
How much more so if her face were revealed?

5. It is no wonder that I was fooled by a glimpse of her.
The nature of moons is that they beguile.

6. How many a glance has led the heart to sigh
With breath of life fragmented by her gaze.

7. Strange that we rob the lion in battle
While our eyes are robbed by the maidens' glances.

8. Our vigor wanes when the war drums beat
Yet only their beating awakens our fervor.

9. The charms of a beauty in her prime are flames
That scorch externally, yet internally ignite.

10. When my eyes draw her image, it strikes like lightning,
Ravaging my soul, which cries "No refuge but you!"

11. A flock of radiant suns over a garden
With constellations equal to its fruits.

12. They refuse what the nests conceal
And guard what the palaces contain.

13. Her companions are jealous of the passing breeze
And the gentle wind angers her jealous mate.

14. If he sees her in a dream visited by a specter,
By day he suspects she is visited by a suitor.

15. We looked, so their eyes made us lovesick,
And listened, so their voices wasted us.

16. We visited, so the lions were roused,
Their manes bristling and roar heard amidst the spears.

17. God help the lover! For he sees the shrouds of death
Yet visits nonetheless when stealthily she beckons.

18. The hem of her cloak dragged as she snuck out at night,
The informed sleuths fast asleep, their minds secure.

19. With us the tattooed women swaggered,
And the foes gloated over us.

20. They almost exposed us, if not for her braided hair
Blocking the steps of dawn - but her separation pained.

21. My days wear me down with enmity
Though their hearts brim with hatred.

22. Yet I delight in the first fruits of youth and riches
When she experiences dearth and poverty.

23. Since fate flipped the cup, I've been patient
With my lot, however meager its portion.

24. If days bore what I bear they would scarce
Erase the night's cloak before the coming dawn.

25. I will endure - either fortune will turn
Or my affairs will prosper.

26. For though Khansa I be, my love is everlasting,
And if Zubba, my desire remains unrequited.

27. I don night's garb in melancholy, cloaked
By the chambers' partitions from her fervent zeal.

28. It's as if my soul wanders the abdomen's depths,
Only to emerge frustrated, finding no path to her heart.

29. The grouse mourns her amidst the rain-smoothed stones
When the pebbles and boulders part from one another.

30. When the sun kisses her sands, it makes them weep,
When the wind blows through her hills, it moans.

31. When war visits, she makes her hair a pillow,
Her eyes shedding tears heard amidst the wailing.

32. The southern winds avoid her, cautious,
And the northern gales evade her trail.

33. I learned the ways of her land and destroyed her sons.
Only the learned can vanquish lands.

34. With steps neither rash nor mistaken, frequent
Are her slips, yet more often she hits the mark.

35. Sweeter than melodies are the notes of her camels,
More beautiful than rhymed prose the roar of her winds.

36. Her arches forgot half of life's settlement,
So engrossed were they in merriment.

37. Like pages her ruins are inscribed
With lines that creep across the sands.

38. Adorned as necklaces on the dunes and meadows
Whose greenery creeps up her breasts.

39. Clothed and well-fed, her belly grew wide,
Her loose robe revealing what's underneath.

40. Her moan expresses her burning longing,
Her withering reveals the heart's secret.

41. She journeys towards Mecca, escorted
By the frolicsome throngs of Babylon and its palaces.

42. When the mountain of Zarud was behind her,
The banners of solemn Najd appeared.

43. She veered right, avoiding Shumayt, and passed
The meadows of Qatan as dawn's light shone through.

44. Her guide stopped at the sand dunes of Aj
So she would recognize the intended destination.

45. Our camels pleaded with us to move on,
For towards the best of messengers was their course.

46. Stones along the way cried in yearning
For one who saluted them and his she-camel.

47. Towards the finest prophetic envoy sent to the finest nation,
To the finest object of worship brought by its herald.

48. He whose advent extinguished Persia's fires
And shook its throne and palace.

49. The Torah of Moses spoke of his superiority
As did the Bible and Psalms.

50. God sent him as a bearer of good news
And as a warner to mankind.

51. Muhammad is the finest of prophets
First in merit, though last to be sent.

52. O sign of God that since its rising
Has hid misguidance from people.

53. Peace be upon you, O finest messenger
To a nation that without you persists in error!

54. Peace be upon you, O finest intercessor
When Hellfire surrounds the disbelievers!

55. Peace be upon you, by whom humanity was ennobled
And their joy perfected.

56. Peace be upon you, whom jinn and men worshipped
And all their affairs obeyed!

57. Our feet were ennobled when ceaselessly
They tread towards you time and again.

58. Our mouths vied in pride when they kissed
The dust of your tomb, though it vanished.

59. Merits aspired yet fell short,
Note their forelocks cropped short!

60. Had elegists grasped your worth fully
Their lifelong quest would be to reach you.

61. For you are God's secret revealed
That clarified the darkness of doubts.

62. The city of knowledge whose gate
Is your cousin - none enter but through him.

63. Suns reversed for you in the west
And constellations clove for you in the east.

64. Mountains crumbled before your determination
And oceans drained before your creed.

65. Your family is the finest family, your kin
Whose love, though little, is most grateful.

66. When they sit to give, observers feel humbled,
And when included in merit, none can rival them.

67. Your companions are the finest companions, the choice ones
Who defended all lands when war peaked.

68. Defenders, protectors amidst wars and towns
Who subdued the rebellious and arrogant.

69. O you true to your promise, you promised me tidings,
So I do not fear with you as its bearer.

70. I sent out wishes aimlessly seeking
Your presence; they returned crestfallen.

71. I dispatched thin hopes that flocked
To you and returned heavily laden.

72. To you, Messenger of God, I complain of crimes
Whose small ones rival mountains in mass.

73. Grave ones that if mountains bore their load
They would crumble, crying "Calamity!"

74. Yet I'm certain, or rather my certainty is
That they will be erased, with you pleading my case.

75. For I saw the Arabs boastful with staffs,
Yet seeking refuge when befallen by woes.

76. How then, for one whose staff leaves brought life,
Before whom hopes cower, by whom perils expire?

77. I prefaced my whisperings with praise
As my heart deemed nothing else would suit.

78. The listeners are quenched by its streams
And the viewers delighted by its downpour.

79. It is pleasure, though hearing it is fleeting -
For it fades, yet its joy remains.

80. I adorned it with lengthy consistency,
Though brief inconsistent praise suits you best.

81. When rhymes fall short of your merits
Equal are their collection and paucity.

82. Praising you completes my aim - it is my plea
Against a horde whose immorality oppresses me.

83. With my poetry, your superior merits I recount
When people's forelocks are cropped short.

84. And I stay up versifying, my friend, is there
A while for me to rest that you can lend?

85. For Ibn Zuhayr, your mantle sufficed
As reward for his ode - enriching his deprived clan.

86. Reward me, recompense me, requite my praise
With a mantle, when fires flame and blaze.

87. So welcome it, for acceptance is
Its wedding gift - your approval, its dower.

88. If its length and consistency adorn it,
Brevity and concision equally suit it.

89. When rhymes cannot encompass your attributes,
Equal are their collection and scarcity.

90. Praising you completes my aim, which is my argument
Against a horde whose immorality oppresses me.