1. Love, where enemies gather,
And patience, where the lonely wilderness lies,

2. As if compelled by separation and enmity
Are the skills of the brave survivors.

3. It's no wonder the youths compete
With passion's madness ringing in their ears.

4. She extends her hand in the noonday sun
Its radiance dimmed by the overcast sky.

5. She bid farewell, a final goodbye,
On the day we parted, with a fleeting glance.

6. And she became forbidden, as if she were
The only chaste one among the tents.

7. She was veiled, and her image veiled, as if
They were her guardians, watching her every moment.

8. The hills of the valley did not bend
Except for her, the graceful brunette.

9. No naked sword but came
Without her, and every sword, naked.

10. A muffled band, and a cursed troop,
Bewildered, and a grey Popinjays.

11. Why ask about her camps' songs
When my heart is full and they are empty?

12. To God a lonely ostrich, and to God
A bellowing camel, neither wholesome nor sated.

13. She seemed to bend, though no winds shook her,
Beyond me, nor my panting breath.

14. As if she remembered you all
And swayed gently in her ample robes.

15. Everything excites your passion, whether
A verdant grove or a leafy, green tree,

16. So look! Is it fires lit for enemies, or lightning
Flashing, or a red banner unfurled?

17. At times she hides in the dust, and a turban covers her,
At times under the cover of night a wrapping hides her.

18. Cursed be the nights after ours, which passed
Like curses of farewells upon reunions!

19. She dressed in the whiteness of dawn, till I saw her
In it like a Abyssinian in a striped gown,

20. Till she appeared, and the full moon in its robe,
As if she were a breast-baring gazelle,

21. Then the blistering heat overcame her, and she turned
And became like a fox in a den.

22. Days were folded over me, despite the schemes
Not folded over me by enemies.

23. Nothing was better than her hands, which
Turn you away, except that she is beautiful.

24. The world does not make its bliss last,
It is the maker, and its palm is torn.

25. It wants me to defeat me through its guile,
A dragon, its color dun.

26. The generous were an advancing army
That swept as if they were a flood.

27. And I asked about the one in the bridal litter
And people are ignorant, lacking insight,

28. Until I turned to the Caliph, arbiter,
And knew the seekers of office desire rule.

29. A generosity as if the oceans rush forth from it,
And as if the world upon it is flotsam.

30. A king, when his orators speak his praise,
The delegations are silenced and the orators confounded.

31. He is the purpose of the world, and it was created for him,
And things exist only for purpose.

32. Of the pure water of revelation, a turbulence,
From its pool the spring, and it is healing.

33. Of the tree of Paradise, where
Its fruits burst forth and the blessed rested.

34. Of the flame of the candle lit for Moses,
Which bewildered even the gloomy.

35. From the essence of holiness, a scion
Of the spirit of the heavens, and it is light.

36. From where the day is lit for the seeing
And mysteries from it made clear.

37. So awake from neglect, and be warned,
The dawn does not hide from eyes.

38. The sky you see is not God's sky,
But an earth holding a heaven.

39. Its planets are humbled before Him,
Bowing in secret though waving openly.

40. The sun veils its blaze from His brilliance,
As if it were a despondent, spurned gazelle.

41. This intercessor for a nation he will bring,
And his generosity to their ancestors, interceding.

42. He is God's trustee among His servants,
And His lands, if the trusted are counted.

43. To him Mecca turned in kindness,
Its mountain passes, the Shrine, and the valley.

44. The noble sermon wherein is wisdom,
Unsullied, wherein the proof is white.

45. People agreed on preferring him,
The vile and the noble were equal.

46. And the family, the eloquent, the remote, the near,
The disputants, the witnesses were equal.

47. Vanquisher of the heads of the Byzantines, avenging,
While their necks bear the weight of his generosity.

48. His hands, which rule them, flow between the blood
As if the blood among blood is blood.

49. If not for the sword's flash as it descends upon them,
His favors would have killed them.

50. The kings of the non-Arabs had been proud
But the Owner of Time humbled them.

51. The great are not belittled in their rule
Except when the great come to them.

52. The Patriots were ignorant that he is the King
Whose counsel instructed the sons to obey their fathers.

53. Until their ignorant ones saw his resolve
As unfamiliar as the scholars had witnessed.

54. So they fell short, after anarchy ruled
And warnings passed, and madness stirred.

55. The torrent does not divert from its course,
Nor is the arrow misshot deliberately.

56. They did not associate any with him as the best of creation,
Though they made the one in the wilderness his partner.

57. And when the idolators acknowledged his superiority by force,
How can you know the monotheists' state?

58. In God his generosity and armies flow,
And his numbers, resolve, and opinions.

59. Do you not see the states of kings obey him
As if they are his servants and bondmaids?

60. The angels of heaven came to his aid
And the dawn and dusk obeyed him.

61. The ships and the revolving spheres, and in his luck
Were raids in the darkness and darkness!

62. And fate and days in their sequence
And people, greens, and wastelands!

63. Where can one flee, and no escape for a fugitive,
To you belong the two lands, earth and water.

64. To you belong the sculpted virgins,
Flowing at your command, while the winds are still.

65. The carriers, all carried,
The producers, all virgin.

66. The bent, that if raced, win the race,
And the racers, though sprinting, are outrun.

67. The soaring, gliding, outpacing, surviving birds,
That obey when spurred to victory.

68. Fearsome in the clash of battle are their darkness,
And theirs are pride and disdain.

69. They do not expose their necks on the day of strife
Except as modesty dyes the cheeks red.

70. Those who sniff the heights and haughty, they smile
Beneath the helmets, then darken and shine.

71. They wore the iron upon the iron defiantly
Until the armors and coats of mail were equal.

72. They wrapped themselves in steel until their sabers
Show no distinction from the unworked ingots.

73. As if above the palms were fritillaries
And above the bodies a glow.

74. Above each coat of mail is a jerkin
Polished, upon it a gleam.

75. They came together until their coats of mail
Were interlinked, and their whiteness sated.

76. You strengthened the religion of God, O son of His prophet,
So today in it are writhing and refusal.

77. The least fortune of the Arabs from you is happiness,
And the least fortune of the Byzantines, anguish.

78. When you dispatch the army, it is a host,
And when you offer counsel, it is destiny.

79. Your open hand makes the garden bloom before its time,
And the worthless fled from you.

80. The attributes of your being take from you,
So in all noble traits, they are names.

81. Thoughts have wandered in you, striking
Notions of you, so the miracles gathered.

82. Eyes have turned to you and fates submitted to you,
And clouds were too shy for you.

83. Hearts gathered upon satisfaction with you
And passions became devoted to loving you.

84. You who concluded the speech, and by you
Were the praises of you judged, O poets.

85. A specific, lofty position for poets
In its like are placed the wise.

86. They took speech, much and little,
In two divisions: one disease, one cure.

87. They professed that praising you is obedience,
An ordained duty, so they owe you no payment.

88. So be safe if an event stirs the wilderness,
And live on as souls pass away.

89. Our month of fasting and vigil redeems you,
Then the months will redeem that with ransom.

90. In it descends each revealed text,
So for the Prophet's family are praises in it.

91. In it extend the palms of Muhammad's family,
And voices are raised in it, clear and pure.

92. You always fulfill its duty, before and after,
While admirers and lovers come to you.

93. Your praise in it is sufficient wealth, it
Equals worship for the worshipers.

94. Alas! We cannot thank what you bestow, even if
Tongues and limbs gave thanks before you.

95. And God speaks truest of your sublimity,
As if the words of all speakers are nonsense.

96. Do not ask about times, for around your
Comfort they turn however you wish.