1. The lover's tears flow from his blood
So be gentle with the one your heart loves

2. I cried for him, and crying bears witness to
What melts of his flesh and bones

3. As if he were sick abed
The meaning of a gentle companion roams in his mouth

4. O moon, the darkness has branched upon
A straight branch with its stars

5. What oppressor but you sees him
Who did not fear God in his oppression

6. And passion shows the pain of its outpouring
To love, for love, from its agony

7. And the burning of the heart only
The beloved cools with his smile

8. So show mercy to him whose passion you have stolen
No good in a palm without its wrist

9. Though the burden of love weighs heavy
On my liver more than its concealment

10. And time's day comes with no tomorrow
The maker of beauty like its destroyer

11. May the nights cease their arrows
Against the passionate, slain by their arrows

12. I complain of love and disgrace in an age
Swifter to decline than its hoariness

13. An ignorant, sinful time
That singled out the virtuous for its blade

14. Bowing its head, lacking in
Pride over its mounts and banners

15. And grants the sweetest from its streams
To those unworthy of its bitter drafts

16. Though these kindnesses contain for those
Not equal to the wickedness of their taste

17. The lowly may be granted in their lateness
What the eminent are denied in their advance

18. You will never see the sword fresher
Than the bare blade in its sheath

19. So be patient always with the decrees of His wisdom
The patience of resolute souls in His grasp

20. For reaching the stars is closer to hands
Than attaining what He has forbidden

21. The patience of the noble reveals in the end
Their merit and generosity

22. A parable the discerning should heed
To solve the obscure in knowledge

23. Lord of bounty, magnanimous
Ibrahim in his learning and his teacher

24. Al-Mawlawi whom worries
Gathering virtues and granting favors

25. May you succeed in gaining an honored place
Seeker of his dinar and dirham

26. He assumed glory loftily
For glory is no stair without climbing

27. He ascends the heights highly
When others ascend by its steps

28. O sanctuary of the devout visited
By our hopes pouring to Zamzam

29. How quickly time changes
And man grows darker in his tyranny

30. To God I complain of evil men
Like embers in their inflammation

31. Their words weaken our hearing
As a burden weakens the leg

32. And man is the same in His commands
Whether his tongue or the mute's

33. How rude is one whose party we join
Our eloquent servant to the foreigner

34. Who enters lost so we are equal in manners
Would that my pigeon knew before the guest

35. And harbors malice in his conscience
While showing good cheer in his smile

36. No word of a youth escapes you
When his eyes expose his thoughts

37. Though the perceptive in his vision
Are more truthful than the astrologer's scrolls

38. A glance shows you the heart of the suspicious
And you know fraud by his speech

39. You would not gratify the age's parrots
Even if you excelled Ibn Adham in asceticism

40. And all who are evil in nature
Suppose ill of you in their fancy

41. Alas! The anguish which I have swallowed
That rends my heart like a slap to the mouth

42. It does not deprive the eloquent speaker but me
In life unless to silence the mute

43. The narrow worldly lot of the noble
Is easier for the wicked than its width

44. It is the way of time I do not deny
What it has made its habit and custom

45. That the noblest should be tried
Unjustly while their lovers blamed

46. So I fled them all to you
Like a dove fleeing its jealous mates

47. May my years repent while regretting profits a man nought
And I resigned myself beyond hope in them

48. That my hope intercedes for their forbidden
While time plots without a plot

49. Its turns make the brave one fall
Though often the rash one's limit is unclear

50. And the foolish in their ignorance of consequences
Fulfill without anger or zeal

51. So I entrusted myself to a time that protected me
And lived through your heights a protected life

52. Console me with the sight of you for what has pained me
Only a salve can heal the wound

53. Those I built up, though they brought me misery
Have no state but to seek your favors

54. For the virtue of this age is atonement
For the sins of criminals