1. Your eyelids have captivated my sleep, O Saad
So that your union is unmatched in delight

2. Have mercy upon a lad whose heart was struck
By arrows from an eye lined with blackness

3. A heart churning with the newness of love
Between the fire of ardour and the fire of distance

4. The breeze could barely move him because of his weakness
Toward the swaying of your erect, bending form

5. What harm could come from obliging with a visit
That would make envious eyes boil?

6. And a cup of wine from your pleasure would revive
The slain one, and quench the thirsty one

7. By your love, though lovers swear it faithfully
And it is the oath of the people of the club

8. My only goal is to pick roses
And inhale the fragrance of cheeks like apples

9. I found their equal in no country
Safe from ruin by noble roots

10. The swords of Ishmael waged war
With the fire of your love in the depths of my heart

11. None like Ishmael in days of generosity
Or Ishmael in days of pursuit

12. A king crowned with praises and glory
The pride of ancestors and forefathers

13. Who opened lands with his sword and generosity
And aided people against the unjust times

14. And removed the tyranny of their kings from the Sudan
Until it split with no trace of blackness

15. O driver of the flood which the spheres
Ravage with crashing and tumult

16. His protection encompasses three seas
Of tranquility, his Nile ever-flowing

17. While I have the honor of your goblet and bounty
The sweetwood, best wood of all for joy

18. Who else is there to hope for and seek
But him, most faithful to the willing and latecomer

19. My lord, it is the way of kings to accept
Gifts offered by both present and absent

20. And to accept what your servant presents
Is a tradition by which Zuhair revived the rightly-guided prophet

21. So accept me with your face - may your face remain
A prayer direction for seekers - and take my hand in happiness

22. And rain upon me from your generosity a shower
That will bring me joy in wiping away my grief

23. So I will not say that finding your generosity
Has captivated my sleep, O Saad