1. With his upright stature he walked slowly,
A wanderer stumbling on withered leaves.

2. We knew not if his eyelids' swords were tempered
With magic or sharpened for us with flint.

3. On his rosy cheek a grain of ambergris -
Or a speck fallen on a rosy rose.

4. Or did a thief stretch out to pluck it
In a courtyard of rubies with an emerald rope?

5. Or a wanderer of the rising sun who ended up
Bowing to it, calling it sublime?

6. Or a talisman inscribed for him from Surat
Al-Rahman, to ward off the evil eye.

7. Or the pole of the circle of beauty on his cheek
Disguised in the garb of a black slave.

8. Or is it an apparition of my imagination
Distracted by the mirror of singular beauty?

9. The sultan of passion brought me near to a heaven
But would that it had not brought me so near!

10. Restrain yourself, my imagination, from eyes that never
Sleep, for in them is a sorcerer who never rests.

11. And fear death from the eyebrows, for they
Are the mother of wonders - their arrow never misses.

12. And beware the flaming cheek - for next to it
There is no difference between acute and right angle.

13. And flee from the sword of the eyelids, as our
Enemies fled from the swords of Muhammad in battle.

14. He who appeals to him for mercy extends
A hand that is never outstretched to harm.

15. He inherited generosity from the great ancestors
Among whom there is none but an honoured chief.

16. May their unique lineage endure for you, O best
Of governors! And remain always sweet of waters.

17. And may your love be the reward of your struggle. God
Made you caliph to delight in eternal bliss!