1. We are unaccustomed to hear the lover moan thus;
How could it be when tears betray the beloved's traces?

2. Reproach me little, for a love
That its fellow be not a comrade.

3. And lightly brush my eyes, pearl of a tear,
For in the tears of parting it will not stick.

4. Whoever disobeys his parents is dissolute,
And whoever disobeys a home in al-‘Aqeeq.

5. So stop, singers, in the abode of the gentle,
The singing of the gentle in the place of the gentle.

6. She whose necklace at the hour of estrangement is not knitted
And whose waist is not belted tightly.

7. The rivulets flow as if in her cheek,
Pure water and red ‘Aqeeq.

8. She is like a gazelle, but sometimes
The touch of hunter rests on her side.

9. Pelted at Sa‘eed’s father, knight of Rome
United in perfect accord.

10. With smooth spear and bright gold
In us and the most genteel raiment.

11. In a troop clothed in the weaving of Siloq,
Who at dawn [Silook’s] dogs pursue.

12. They share in battle a cup of death,
While she is bound to a cup of wine.

13. She trod the plain’s borders until
She took her due from the open field,

14. The whips enflamed her until she roared
When freed towards the wide plain,

15. He drove her as booty, and when she was declared lawful
By kisses, [he rode] every plain and grove.

16. He marched straightforward into war, raising
A towering flame unto Byzantium,

17. Advising the king and the righteous sovereign,
And the kingdom without the counsel of a sincere adviser.

18. And of old was it deduced that obeying the Creator
Is naught but from obeying the created.

19. Then he threw himself into the fray of Brusa
Carrying the auspices and success,

20. He disturbed its market, and left in it
A market of death that darkened every market,

21. They fled between the flames of the sword
Fleeing, and between the fires of burning,

22. Finding refuge in the Gulf what he never found before
Either for or without provision,

23. After the decree, nothing prevented him
Except a thin screen of land,

24. And if the steeds had not disobeyed him
He had naught but the distant and far,

25. An earthquake that shook the city of Constantine
Until it shook with the cracks of buttresses,

26. By the rights of the canal upon him, an oath
More cutting than the sharp edged sword,

27. That if the arm pulled together its strength
Or the eye of an arrow above

28. It would not see its lock as they claimed
Nor the sea beneath it, however deep,

29. Other than the tightness of ribs in the moment of attack
And no straitness after the narrowness,

30. Vanishing of voice in the moment of command and prohibition
When the neighing of steed diminishes,

31. How many captives of their elite and slain
Repelling the garb with blood like tattoo,

32. Seeking help from the patriarch in vain - and does one ask
Save the silent patriarch?

33. And a taker who saw death until
He spoke in truth though untruthful,

34. Standing for truth, addressing creation though
By my life, he is insincere with truth,

35. An advisor though not serious in counsel,
Compassionate though not serious in compassion,

36. Showing piety until he disobeyed kin - piety
In religion is under that disobedience.

37. So he ransomed himself with each horse
And neigh in his land and snort,

38. Of the wealth of kings that gives the eye its pleasure
Then the finest of the fine slaves.

39. None of their elders followed them
Nor did the love of hearts necessitate separation.

40. Then you marched against the usurpers, man after man,
With striking and burning.

41. The difference between them and the associators
Is like the difference between a club and peg,

42. What thing except hopes between unbelief -
If they thought - and immorality?

43. The meadows of Aqarqus were not roused
From a breeze to tumult and moaning,

44. Religion wailed and called for your help,
Islam called for victory like one drowning.

45. The day of Bakr ibn Wa’il with champions,
Not the day of the fire-worshipping heathen,

46. The day of the severed necks, that and this day
In Rome, the day of severed gullets,

47. He fed the sword half of them and threw the half
With the view of the expert carpenter,

48. And they clamoured as if he threw them
With that device from the mangonel,

49. By the Lord of the Ancient House he demolished
The pillar of their ancient misguidance,

50. They stole them from the swords and from the height
Of lofty nights of the thief,

51. Your preceding and subsequent raid exalted
While speech remains inadequate,

52. When the sky's skin is not green
And the face of winter not bright,

53. You orphaned their small with the great, despite
Their scheming, before daybreak,

54. How much it brought back from the land of delight -
Of delight of the eye and fluttering glancing,

55. Then it returned while you fear the concealing cloud
With thought and pounding heart,

56. You do not care about lightning of white and red,
Rather you feared the lightning of lightning,

57. You crave rain though it is the right of a beloved
How many bundles during the hatred of an addict,

58. You do not frighten with the harm of an enemy or injustice
Rather you fear the harm of a friend.

59. Your fine days against Rome
Are red dawns, red sunrises,

60. Signs as if by spilled blood,
Days of ritual sacrifice and stoning.

61. So refrain, O people of grudges, from dwelling
Among the lofty and steep passes,

62. Of pure birth, good upbringing,
And enlightened course of veins,

63. He does not make matters equal in pardoning
Nor incline except rightly upon the path.

64. So be warned - for the creation of that Doer
Is unlike that creation indeed,

65. His wealth distracted him so he did not meet it
Except as prey to rights,

66. Wakeful though most heedless of people
Towards an obtainer of something stolen,

67. I and passion are infatuated with your love as long as I live
And we flourish through you without waking,

68. My comfort is in praise what remains
Of an ability on my ruptured tongue,

69. So suffice with the blessing which is like love -
No forsaker and no withholder,

70. Its owner feels safe from rebellion against it
And it is in asylum from divorce.