1. Do you have knowledge or shall I speak and enchant
And explain my state concisely yet verbosely?

2. Had I tried to elaborate every detail
No ground would stand for me, nor could I write.

3. I met a youth, if his palm held the clouds
No sun would rise, no stars shine.

4. So I expressed until I said the inexpressible
And admired until admiration diminished in me.

5. I did not know what I encountered of every admirer,
And if I claimed to know, I would be, by God, lying.

6. So say what you wish of what you love, and beyond it
Its multiples in the like of it multiply by a thousand.

7. To a thousand, to thousands in thousands repeated
And reckoned, though uncountable, I met.

8. So however far what I described reached
It was not, by God, a tenth of what I met.

9. Nor a tenth of a tenth, so compare descending
With its likes, multiples of what can be expressed.

10. What is true of this and that, I find
Each day gifts me such.

11. Its multiples, nay, double the multiples of its double
Thousands added, each time counted, slip away.

12. No blame, if I fell short in what I explained
For the tireless is not blamed for his exertion.

13. Abu Bakr, hear what pleases you, and wait
For what you hope from me and seek.

14. I do not forget a friend's due,
And I am loyal to those who befriend and are true.

15. What argument have I, if I do not convey to you your desire,
And you wake to a wedding, while I make you mourn?

16. Why not, beyond what I have described,
His hands generosity and bounty disbursed?

17. Abu Bakr, I have prevailed over the minister,
And you, my friend, have prevailed over me.

18. So tell them: "How feeble is your leader's cunning,
And failed his effort which you so lauded."

19. They gathered, else dispersed, avoiding each other,
And frightened, had I been easily frightened.

20. Tell them: "Die choking, I see for you
Sweeter than what you have encountered."

21. Good tidings, you have attained what you hoped from me,
Yours, what you wished of me, and more.