1. You ask about blood that pleases you
While love for you pleases my heart

2. Why did your glance lead a dear one
To one who when he sees you draws his sword

3. Lovers you see as individuals and pairs
Captives around his abode, and slain

4. He whose sword and lance momentarily
Spill blood, finds it an easy task

5. He has shown us, as night falls
A face bright as day when it shines

6. His charms have blinded justice in him
So none who love him fear justice

7. I have taken off my chastity, and care not
If people think ill of me or no

8. Oh! Such yearning sighs
That wrench away my soul and make it melt

9. And they said youth's ardour lasts but a month
Better to say he dies, that would be truer

10. How can a thirsty man forget water
In a month, or more or less?

11. And they said, "You've slept" I said, "Let the lamps sleep
For over my eyes they've gained control"

12. With a starry wink I've pledged my eyes
And raved over him till he turned away

13. A doe moans, moans for her fawns
Ravaged by beasts, all were torn to shreds

14. She found him mangled, ripped by fangs
His entrails strewn, his limbs ripped off

15. Long was her moan in anguish, distraught
Circling over him, deep in grief

16. The stench of carrion gently she sniffs
Unknowing, she recoils in ignorance

17. Grief brings her to him, grief takes her away
Shows him to her, now far, now close

18. Neither trees nor water distract her
Though she cares for neither, has no time

19. She tells her tale, but much remains untold
Had she wished, Ahmad's swords would speak

20. Saladin, hope of the world, his God
Made him victorious, exalted king

21. Noble blood, of a line most high
Among kings in kingship, and most lofty

22. His father, seventy kings precede
Who ruled, but he alone made justice bloom

23. Exalted in their rule, and time a child
They overpowered it till it grew old

24. We know not who came first, who followed
But either they were, or otherwise...

25. When the son of Ismael is recalled
Even proud kings are humble before him

26. Cheeks of generosity, even as a child
He rivaled the heights, in the cradle he lay

27. When the first fruits of glory appeared
They witnessed, "He has lived the life of a stallion"

28. Slow where knowledge was reason
Impetuous where wisdom was ignorance

29. He wields his unrelated sword
His canon and law screen and protect him

30. When he fasts, his blade awaits
His foes, dripping where he prays

31. You'd think the world flows with his army
Horse and foot, a torrent of men

32. Mountains of steeds surround him
Leaving plains of sand where hooves trod

33. Jostling under lions in battle's fray
Lances raised atop, plunging and rising

34. Rows harmonious, rank after rank
Like a necklace's threaded gems aligned

35. His vanguard surpasses horizons
When the horizon tries to keep pace

36. He outpaces the gray robe of night
His lemon complexion outshines the gilt cup

37. If his nights were molded in his darkness
And dawn struggled to shine

38. When his hair spills down, towering high
He'd fill the pupil's eye with grit and salt

39. For his knight the decree, when he sees a man,
Is death, capture, or pardon

40. With his wisdom he knows your heart
And does not exceed it with his actions

41. So the days have never ceased to reveal
O, Ahmad, Ahmad, signs for you