1. I urged my steeds in love and climbed their backs,
And filled my cup with wine from flow to brim,

2. I sought my joy in damsels and in youths,
In sport and revelry that raptured me,

3. In floods of bliss that knew no ebb at all
From draining cups or kohl upon the lids.

4. Days that feared not the turn of chance's wheel,
Secure, not heeding cawings of the crow.

5. Days when time's face was bright before my gaze
And loveliness was bare, without a veil.

6. Now whiteness hath revealed the ways of right
And turned me from the wanton ways I trod.

7. I've seen the cloak of censure spread before me
To clothe me, as I stumble wearily.

8. Behold, the house of joy—its rooms stand empty,
Its friends dispersed and fled like mirage-rain.

9. Misfortunes have assailed me with their spears
Till my heart quails behind its batterments.

10. Full many a woe has struck me with its blade
And tested me, till I have learned my fate—

11. That I might keep the honor of my lore
And never shame the standard of right conduct—

12. Till I renounced the world and all its ways,
With patience, and was healed of bitter plaints.

13. I turned from blaming fate for what befell
And stanched my tears for what the envious said.

14. I knew that greed adds nothing to one's lot,
That time is fickle and pays no man heed.

15. A hero's purpose ever points ahead
If fixed by fate's decree that none can alter.

16. And so, Mansur, I came to you and left
Vain hopes and claims of human instrument.

17. Your goodwill is my rest, your nearness life,
Your kind speech quickens me, your praise exalts.

18. With you I've won a sure unshakable stronghold
And pitched my tent where none may pierce its folds.

19. Under a king whose rule fulfils our dream
Of ease and plenty underneath his clouds—

20. A moon whose beams fall from pure Arab skies
On mountain peaks, on genealogical trees.

21. His solemn word in God's cause pledged itself
To leave the shameful ties of idols severed.

22. With armies that have rendered safe the roads
Of right, effacing heathen seals and writ,

23. That left their lands as though those spacious wastes
Were but the skirts of deserts desolate—

24. That answered no man's question, guided none—
Uprooting all their traces, stone by stone.

25. O king whose purposes for God's religion are
The greatest gifts the Giving Lord allows,

26. Whom God has granted years that now unfold
Long generations and uncounted aeons—

27. May multiplied delights prolong your days,
And ever-renewed joys adorn your feast;

28. O dawn-illumined day which He has given
Whose work throws wide the universal doors!

29. Receive your twin descendants, who have grasped
The height of glory, mastery of men—

30. Supreme in battle one, and one in prayer,
Both racing to the goal before the rest:

31. The noble chamberlain whose rank was brightened
With genealogical nobility's renown.

32. How many a wily one in war he scared
As the hot penetrating sun the clouds!

33. My very eyes still see him on Qalniya's day
A shooting flame engulfing flashes of flame,

34. God's sword destroying those who broke God's pact
And shattered faith, the Confederate tribes.