1. He bid farewell, so his tears flowed,
And he found comfort in his companions, so their ears perked up,

2. He left the highest abode, so it nestled
In his heart—no aimless sojourn—that will not bid it adieu,

3. O pillar that never broke its pact of loyalty,
Whose light is eclipsed, whose worth forlorn,

4. Nor do my laments cease remembering him,
While my innermost self is battered by piercing sorrows,

5. My ribs that endured his calamities suffice me,
And my eyelids that swelled with his tears,

6. May you be given drink like what stoked your passion,
That alerts you to how the traveler yearns,

7. My youth like the crumbling of my sighs, and my prime,
Like the cooing of the doves nesting in my orchard,

8. How often has my night shortened its stretches
Foolishly, and my morn knit not its stitches,

9. How often have orchards around me ripened,
Though life was crude, the garden's bliss beguiling,

10. How often my siesta place was shaded amongst its trees,
By every branch, the doves' cooing was spellbinding.

11. If your groves' lament brought you joy today,
Then how much my longing helped appease your craving,

12. How oft in it I was graced by a beloved,
For whom I shed my chastity—he who claimed it—

13. A meadow delightful to the eye of passion,
And a place of drink fine to the youth,

14. How oft I cracked the heart of night of a moon,
For whom my soul pined—right in its core,

15. I eyed unresting eyes, while my composure,
Downcast of gaze upon me slumbering,

16. My whip of fellowship ahead, my bridle of intimacy,
Drawing me to it—knotting, embracing me,

17. I never ventured past the edge of death swaggering,
Except my tender branch, pliant, came barking

18. My greetings to him, kisses and hugging
That his twisting knot about me kept tugging,

19. I never shed armor, save when its links
Were split by my breast—all its passions keeping,

20. Nor feared I any arrow from his gazing,
Melting my blade, its target my heart seeking.

21. A limb who tasted the bliss—never
Would it embrace a pearl save cleaving it,

22. The smooth tenderness of braids beneath the curtain,
The swaying of the curls above the choker clipping,

23. It leans a while, drunk with allure drawing me,
Then it curves, the curtain's folds exposing,

24. So my waist disgorged sand dunes separating us,
While my chest sprouted pomegranates repulsing it,

25. My cheeks' channels bring pain when ravaged,
Their shape preserves musk—thus preventing it,

26. I spend the night under the portico of darkness,
Yearning is my companion, intimacy is third,

27. Dawn's magic is countered by words challenging me,
Musk's fragrance by a cup I vie.

28. At peace extending hands the light of comfort,
Had it no bashfulness, her fingers would have reached him,

29. As if the roses of his cheek it melted,
And his saliva—sweetened wine—it mixed,

30. Fruits of life, though hopes of me expired,
And greed lost appetite, hither came to gratify me,

31. Its storer ransacked musk, camphor unstored,
Prodigal with roses, apples sold cheaply.

32. So guide the stars of night whose moon is lost,
While in my lap his crescent lay safely,

33. And guide the yearning of wild deer bereft,
While in my meadow their gazelle grazed freely,

34. My eyes' expanse—how far did their gazes wander!
My breast's heat—how much did its bones contain!

35. My eyes are mirrors I use to deduce dawn,
When its first rays are too shy to shine plainly,

36. A madness that intensifies night's gloom for the sentinel,
And provokes the morn's first light to rise hastily,

37. So he wondered at a doe challenging me,
While I wrestled a lion—his equal in might,

38. He never saw a horn I hugged
Save having bid farewell to a soul never retracting,

39. Until first light emerged, its braids combed,
Chasing night, its ringlets disheveling,

40. As if a band of strays met their fate,
And you, O Mansur, were locked with them fighting,

41. Or like the brandishing of spears—you unfurled them
Through the door of outright conquest—you facilitated it,

42. An army stirred by deadly rumbling led
By fate grim unto your enemies marching,

43. Dawn of brilliant star—but for its glare,
And night of billowing wave—but for its foam,

44. Omens of fortune in the horizon its guides,
And fortune's stars heralding with good tidings,

45. You held the standard's lead—God elevated it,
To a promise assured—its consequences unseen,

46. In trade honest—its goods never adulterated,
Pairing of struggle and fasts—resolve accompanied it,

47. Patience flanked it. No darkness of stillness you dwelled,
Nor daylight of cave you sought refuge,

48. You roamed the land seeking a fort to inhabit,
And combed the wilderness for an army to combat,

49. Until you wrecked the noses of polytheism altogether
With the side of the citadel of disbelief—you split it,

50. Vanished the dark lion who misled the lost,
Deceiving God—while he deceiving it,

51. If its utmost outskirts your lips split,
Then you split its hinterlands—sealing its fate,

52. If the emigrant from home takes caution of you,
Then foes took caution—on a day you were its caution,

53. You left it from the gales of victory a tempest,
Whereafter no subsidence or sinking remained,

54. As if the one who blows death's trumpet laid them low,
Toppling its lofty walls—their structures crumbling,

55. So the calf refusing to drink its milk,
The infant forgetful of the breast that nursed it,

56. They roamed under the lightning of death—every coward
And valiant warrior: the lion cub's guardian, its hunter,

57. One meets it with despair—so it submits,
The other meets it with harmony—so he aids it,

58. With steeds whose fast gait you adorned them,
An army—its calamities therein contained,

59. You brought them to Egypt, and eyes aspired
To witness the like of what your Lord created,

60. The earth wears them at times, at others divests them,
The bridge carries them perforce—then dumps them,

61. A surging host—its summit and depth billowing,
A torrential flood—its onslaughts successive,

62. The sun wearing from it a cloak of darkness,
Though day's face shone radiant and beaming,

63. By the auspice of your fortunate brow, its flight,
And the luck of your blessed leader—its ascent,

64. You brought him forth matching his namesake, long live you through him,
A venerable sage, strong resolve binding him,

65. Who bestows life on those you spared sharing it,
And drinks lethal poison to those you fought against.

66. He fulfilled the raiment of forbearance, wearing it,
And adorned him with the wraps of war, nursing it,

67. Whom noble traits shone through his qualities,
And the efforts he exhausted built up his merit,

68. So glories handed down the ancients he inherited
With a name certified by deeds matching it,

69. And if the world narrowed for an outcast,
Then the magnanimity of his soul is broader than it,

70. If darkness befell one day the hopeful,
Then the sovereign of leadership, clear of night, outshone it,

71. And but for him, ties are cut off,
Advocates rejected, cases refuted,

72. Without him, hopes are utterly dashed,
And without him, needs are too paltry to mend,

73. He who inclines his ear is as though
His acts unto his enemies take place,

74. And God placed in his hands, for Islam to keep,
Sublimities preserved—therein deposits placed—

75. O you who joined by dew what God joined!
And you who severed by hail what God severed!

76. Rejoice in a pride and instinct you harvested,
From the righteousness of conquest and fasts you sowed!

77. And a place of worship you rose for prayers,
Radiant as the moon you emerged from it praying,

78. Amidst an army of might and help—you stirred it,
Gathering religion and world—you brought together,

79. Revered of might in visions—dazzling,
Lowering your gaze to the Merciful—humbled,

80. And a stand for you the supplicants elevated,
To the heavens—its Witness and Hearer,

81. For you the sermon was commenced therewith,
And the worshipper prostrating did not reveal his secret,

82. And they exchanged greetings of Eid and conveyed to you
The finest salutations disseminating far reaching,

83. A throng racing to your palace, praise driving it,
And praise reining it. Where virtues are upheld,

84. The banners of faith kept lofty,
Brilliance of religion inhabited, its laws preserved,

85. Succession of kingship protected with its seal,
From the clay of glory—God is its Shaper.

86. So submit to them and those whose hopes
Death came to claim—towards your auspice competing,

87. Sorrows mount the mountains in piles,
Spurred by sincerity—its hardship apparent,

88. Many a turbulent sea beneath a sea of gloom,
Roared towards your billowing sea—its sources,

89. And of your remarkable qualities—innovations sublime,
The land came to request of you—its wonders,

90. No worth then did you reduce, you who raise it,
No worth then did you raise, you who demote it,

91. So prosper by a pride and merit you reaped,
From the harvest of conquest and fasts you sowed!