1. I love your domed abodes, not out of greed
Nor to ride upon noble steeds, but to bleed

2. Within them are hearts of lovers, their haven
Held by hands so fair that pale all roses red

3. By my folks I swear, chasing it has left me
Breathless, till my soul itself was nearly dead

4. And by God, if madness didn’t make me foolish
And the gossipers said I had lost my head

5. I would clasp that lithe form till breath itself was crushed
Drinking from those lips the sweetest wine till drunk

6. You made me thus, else I would not have changed
And brought blame upon myself, rage self-sprung

7. I would redden white hair with henna's youthful facade
And erase the blemishes of time, make my past slide

8. Cast off respectability, all bonds undone
Layer upon layer, all masks aside

9. And in mourning attire my hair blackened well
If only white henna was available to tell

10. And if you wish to make amends for the grey
Then make your walking stick your wings, your transport repel

11. So take from time a dove, and to time a crow return
What can I say to fate, so unjust and stern?

12. It gathered foes and split lovers clean in half
After you all, nothing beautiful did I discern

13. Nothing but this fool, verbose, insane
Who no more can be called by any name

14. He who would not be called Jafar
Would now be called Jafar the Magnanimous of Fame

15. Bestowing troops of prizes and retinues on horseback racing
As if striking the sky itself to make a dome

16. Or raising the stars themselves as tents
He attained the means to reach those heavenly heights

17. And after them shall seek even loftier flights
Dawn itself wore saffron-gold raiment from his essence

18. And the clouds were watered till they dropped their rains
I saw the Pleiades try to steal his droplets in the night

19. And marvelled greatly at such a wondrous sight
I know not how, except that his affair has confused me so

20. And the changes of his state have struck me rainbow
With which finger did he encircle, without any fear

21. Of their swaying, as if immune from hellfire and iron spear
He is the drowning man, and if he came between its wave

22. With the tumultuous sea frothing white and loud
Resolute, while others take the pleasures and the souls

23. So it’s as if he is the crooked moon wandering the sky
I did not think to see a mortal man like this

24. A raging lion without need for coat of mail or armor dress
A flower, scattering its petals with hands generous and open

25. Willing to accept whatever comes, appeased in its redress
Were it not for his restraints and steely calm control

26. The Arabs would not glory in their heroic roles
His praise made joyful every mouth and face

27. It is for this we find the frontiers have become whole
If doubt cleaved my heart to test his friendship true

28. It would find naught within but faithfulness and fealty due
Before your call I would wander, rejecting all

29. Sipping the mirage, knowing reality's promise untrue
No land brought me closer to you, rather

30. I came to the skies and found its gates ajar
And saw around me delegations of every tribe

31. I thought Iraq itself was groaning from the numbers there
A land I trod, trampling its pearls now dust

32. Its musk now earth, its gardens now a barren crust
And heard within every sermon of victory and might

33. I thought its kings themselves were now all Bedouins, a must!
And saw its mountains bow down before your rule

34. As if extending their necks to you in prostration, overawed
I asked, why is there no grey hair of time?

35. For your might had restored their youth once more
The Prophet back then crushed the factions by your ancestors’ aid

36. The Imam again closed the frontiers, victories made
If I said pure white steeds were created just for you

37. I would have spoken true, be not afraid
You who don the crown of glory and nobility

38. When the best of stock and lineage are arrayed
If kings themselves copied your abodes

39. Then for long they would stand guard at your doorways
Will Rabi'ah ever thank you for the horses you granted?

40. Will the Red Bani Hamr praise you, by you gladly swayed?
You gave honor to the best of every noble house

41. By placing it in kinship next to your names alight
You gave them this full moon whose lineage is known

42. So how can others claim nobility as their right?
You spoke and silenced every speaker, amazed to hush

43. Reached the limits of eloquence and every heartrush
I swear if I part from you yet you still remain

44. Beloved you shall always be, e'en if we turn to dust
And if the lands themselves were planted with your seed

45. You would dwell within every manner and noble deed
Witness! Is he but a man? Yet if I listed his traits

46. All would doubt me and confuse me for a liar decreed
I give you these realms called the world's expanse

47. So command what you desire, you shall be obeyed
If words failed to move you, then your sword sufficed

48. To render speech itself confused, solutions delayed
And if you rise beyond conjectures and their claims

49. Then you have entered the unseen, gate after gate lain
God will not leave oppression by your hand unjusticed

50. Till revelation itself brings retribution foreordained
I do not marvel at your seas, since I measured them all

51. And found them then mirage, not truth but a call
But I do marvel at Fate and its mysteries ancient

52. Did it know the full count of all you were given at all?
I summarized praise, for I found no end

53. And feared rambling, leaving understanding distend
The sin is praising one so far beyond all reach

54. What man can claim to have struck the mark on this bend?
Give me the honesty of one admitting their flaws

55. And blame me like a foe who has transgressed sacred laws
For I am the penitent, and you the paragon

56. Who knelt praying before, all worldly wants withdrawn