1. The blameless passion overwhelmed me
With an apparition of darkness looming

2. A bleeding love I craved, on my lips
He quenched me with a cup, a boon companion

3. He leaned towards me, lines apparent on his forehead
My chatting friend, generous and kind

4. He cast on my face his curly locks
Bringing magic to my heart, magnificent

5. Had I not sipped the sweet nectar of his mouth
I would have stayed safe from passion’s embrace

6. Will he not visit me again unnoticed?
I found him in my night, a blissful gift

7. Dearer to the infatuated than secure peace
And sweeter than joy for the deprived

8. May he come easily to you without envy
Or suspicious jealousy, or vile blaming

9. And who would I have but him, if he returned
Or returned again in cycles of time?

10. After him, which eyelashes again lower their gaze
As if I had bound them with my worries?

11. The dawn is veiled from me in those nights
Like a secret love in a concealed heart

12. They circled the pillars of his bier
Like mourning stars around the sick

13. I watched through those nights, sleepless
With an eye sore from weeping and stars

14. Amazed that separation was joined
By a beloved's nearness or intimacy true

15. Yet boldness strips me naked in this love
As if I'm ignorant of love's affliction

16. The hardest thing my departing heart bore
Was a friend's morning farewells, love resident

17. While in the nights, a kind glance reflects purpose
Joining us though never joined before

18. So I fold the outstretched hand, the night now over
The stars and lightning finished their task

19. The lost and straying grope without guidance
And every misguided one stumbles in darkness

20. Bewildered on the night of separation
Not every night is so confusing

21. The clouds' faces scowled, their lightning blinked
As if jealous of my companion's lightning grin

22. As if the serpent envied my friend's hand
The most glorious, generous, and kind

23. Scion of lofty glories, his knowledge supreme
Above all sublime, on sciences most high

24. Son of ancient glory, not just recent
And nothing recent in glory compares to old

25. Unique in wisdom and rule in this age
The people ransomed from ruler and sage

26. Our meteors attained the highest meteors
Safe from cursed devil's touch

27. No just ruler in any land like justice
Or one who walks a path balanced and right

28. Happy is he who obeys his Lord's command
Wronging none in his rulings

29. And shame on him who didn't heed his servants
Expecting no reward from the Merciful

30. What deters the soul from evil deeds
When ignorantly confident of no hellish punishment?

31. Our judge, gentle and good, the best
Hope for good from one gentle and wise

32. Swift to shelter in the refuge of a protector
Lifting suffering from others, painful

33. Superior in virtues cloaking the earth
With splendor atop all finery

34. And excellence stays with the youth
Vestiges of traits and symbols remained

35. Why do I feel estranged and passionate?
A stranger to my time which spurns me

36. I ponder my quests, fruitless
Barren, with no hoped-for yield

37. My nature loves the lofty goals, meeting place
Of noble spirits, abode of virtues high

38. A man's glory is not from wishes gained
If he has wishes adverse to his fate

39. Rather, if wary of his epoch's plots
He seizes the greatness due from fate

40. You are the noble safe harbor of the age and fate
Our leader, others have no leader but you

41. The time has come to lodge my complaint
To you, and make you gently chide him

42. May your praise remain, it immortalizes
Matching your person, beyond decay

43. May your bounty last, time without end
For it adorns the age, not disgraced

44. Bearing a fragrance each breeze carries
Abu Tammam wished for its plants

45. And Tameemi would understand, son of Tameem