1. It is incumbent upon us to speak and act,
And mention some of your merit, while you bestow favor.

2. Abu Ja'far, you have granted us in every barren place
A Ja'far from the overflowing of your palms, flowing down.

3. So we have gained much bounty from your gifts,
And in your shade we have built many a fortress.

4. You have returned hope to us, fresh and green are its branches,
And you have freed our hopes, though they were shackled.

5. The eye of the healthy man does not look to you expectantly
Except for a moment, before it turns expectantly again.

6. You have increased the range of my pastures and I was not
A beast, content with ignorant grazing on the land.

7. But hands have befallen me, their bodies tempted me
And led me astray, more misguided than a lost camel.

8. When the people do well to boast without merit,
You have done well to show more merit.

9. You have risen above that boastfulness of theirs
And the nobility of your worth has advised you not to act pretentiously.

10. You are far from scheming against the authority of the Sultan,
Or wrongly interpreting his actions.

11. When they chance upon some gain and enrich themselves,
The public treasury becomes full because of you.

12. You have shaken the Commander of the Faithful, Muhammad,
So he has been fair and straightened what was crooked.

13. You do not hesitate to prepare his opinion
Against one who breaks allegiances, you do not prepare armies.

14. You see his person as a summit amidst the Caliphate,
And his sermon just below the Caliphate, a separate chapter.

15. When you clothed him in honor, bestowing favor,
And wrapped him in that venerable authority, preferring him,

16. It was so he could establish the rights of the public, finally,
And establish the rights of the Caliphate, firstly.

17. Yet neither summits of Rada' are calm, nor a neck of a staunch pillar,
Nor the towering mountain of Quds, nor a towering nose withers

18. With a weight heavier than his when he is unrestrained
And he throws behind the kingdom, slaughter and shackles.

19. Impregnable are the sides of secrecy with him, a fortress,
When dishonorable whispers become a gathering.

20. You see a sudden, grave matter as coherent before him
And understandable if it was problematic.

21. We have found you gentler than men with soft hands,
And better in tribulations, of finer face and feature.

22. You shine when the times darken and some of them
See death felling lives or creeping slowly.

23. By God, I do not come to you except out of duty,
And I come to all people for no other reason.

24. No man among the people was your weapon
As disasters descended upon him, while he was unarmed.

25. Who saw his armor reaping lives, his sword judging,
His whips poisoned, and his lash devastating.

26. I will set out on a journey to the western land,
Emigrating and reaching the womb of the world that was made barren

27. By my undutifulness, perhaps its causes will be softened.
A tribe and family I did not meet with yearning

28. Until the intention came close, except in passing, no, nor at all.
It was as if they were, due to my brief sojourn,

29. Known to me, or homes where I lodged for a night.
Had I wished, I would not have burdened them with my righteous claim

30. And it would not have been a generality, but mere pretense.
So I did not find morals except as affectation,

31. Nor merit except as favor granted.
I turn my face from lands whose tongues and hearts

32. Have been shackled and locked against me.
A people like me lived there and found

33. Favor blind and fate inattentive there.
Dogs who snatched at the prey of a fleeing hyena,

34. Gazelles who were fed the game of a vigorous youth.
A man's sincere opinion and wisdom change

35. When the sun shifts, so he changes too.
Unless those hopes remain untainted,

36. Luxuriant, it is enough that they meet dry and withered.
The one who faced ordeals at dawn

37. Is not like the one who faced ordeals at twilight.
If my ambitions have left me tossed in my wanderings

38. To a fate, they have deprived me of your shelter.
If I choose a considered course, I will surely

39. Leave some fortune in your courtyard, approaching.
If I tread the field of the encampment, I will surely

40. Leave a garden from your stream, and a flowing brook.
That is how the traveler does not cast down his baggage

41. Until he leaves a campsite behind to replace the one before.
The pilgrim does not inhabit a halt or quarter

42. If he does not vacate a quarter and a halt.
Who can approach or withdraw from me? Is there a young man

43. Who can loosen the reins of wandering, or wander?
Order me with a piercing, biting command—I have seen

44. Enemies thrive while I grow frail.
To me, it is equal whether they have prepared for me a feast

45. That I can enjoy, or whether they have prepared my death.
By God, I will not cease to guide stray arrows

46. To you, loaded with polished praise.
You reckon it a necklace, strung together,

47. Cooling to you, embroidered and tailored.
Sweeter than sweet nectar, more fragrant than musk

48. Gently steamed, lighter to carry.
Lighter on the heart, weightier in meaning,

49. Shorter to a listening friend, longer in verses.
A people shine through it though they were not praised by it

50. When the narrator represents it, or shapes representation from it.
Though excessive shyness has inclined me to you

51. And I have not made my honor deviate or change course.
I have been burdensome to you by lightening my load, while some

52. Lighten loads in their needs until the loads become heavy.