1. You said, and my heart was struck with love for you, O Suleima
I complained to her, saying "O Solomon!"

2. She said, "I made no complaint," so I said, "Far be it!
I am the complainer who has suffered injustice."

3. She said, "Why do you borrow my name?
You who never borrowed poetry before."

4. Perhaps you'll be content and delete a letter,
To fabricate a great lineage between us."

5. I said, "My pride in being associated with you
Is because the Creator made me your servant."

6. "But I did not intentionally delete a letter,
Rather, the deleted has become feeble."

7. "I erased the nun from my name, so it became
Whole, and grief erases features."

8. "Is there any mercy to free my captivity
From the illness which blinded the wise?"

9. "It made me drink anguish and diverted from me
The affection I thought was gentle."

10. "So longing still drips atop a rose
And bids farewell to the crescent's cheek."

11. "Speak, Creator of the blooming wild roses,
And place in their discourse the breeze."

12. She said, "May I ransom you, my soul. We
Are equal in love and in noble name."

13. I threw off my turban from my head
And said, magnifying, "You have mercy, O Suleima!"

14. I spent the night by her neighborhood to savor her mouth
And enjoy her ancient cups.

15. And by day I kiss her cheek
Whose light splits the brutal night,

16. As you split Damascus in your generosity, O Deputy of
Whose generosity the sermons are robust.

17. "A virtuous, righteous, wise minister
Whose patience calms the raging angry."

18. "Experience trains him each day
And virtues and knowledge nurse him."

19. "He takes pride in healing his opponent's wound
And bandages the abused with dew."

20. "He turns hardship into ease with kindness
And turns bitterness into gentle calm."

21. "So those who say magic is false are shamed
And the science of alchemy is now futile."

22. "And he amazes those with a Hippocratic physician
Who cures and heals the barren illness."

23. "His enemies call him a fierce lion in attack
While the gentle call him a pouring rain in battle."

24. "When he brandishes his sword, it is a fire
That his opponents greet and swallow."

25. "Give glad tidings of a meadow more fragrant than it
And a breeze gentler than its gardens."

26. "And be kinder to people than a mother to her orphan child
As you refine and perfect him."

27. "Let each soul attain its desires
Except what angers God the Merciful."

28. "It is as if the sun has become bashful before you
So on the day you came, the clouds departed."

29. "Accept, O Pillar of the Nation, from us
Praise that exceeds refined pearls."

30. "Its stars are few, so you are a sun
That dawns and shames the graceful moon."

31. "Celebrate in purity and submit to a feast
That visits you enduringly each year."

32. "And may you remain, as long as life remains,
A protector, virtuous, generous, and noble."