1. Will the setting of a tearful sun ever bend,
From one whose evening is lit by piercing clouds?

2. My resolute heart refused
To seek water from a melting eyelid.

3. He who aims the arrows of generosity is hit
By the arrows of loved ones and darlings.

4. Parting from the ladies of tents is atoned
By meeting the piercing star of the generous.

5. She said, as farewell mingled tears with tears
And groups with groups in throngs.

6. We part until we reach the land of strangeness,
How we are prey for the days, seized by a plunderer!

7. Each day takes us to a distant refuge,
Casting the union of our close ones.

8. She reminded me of the ships that had brought us near,
We sought refuge in them from the empty wastelands.

9. Days that entertained us, so we had creeks and coasts,
Instead of the intimates of buildings and playgrounds.

10. The crow croaked taking them, so it flew with its folk,
A flock over the likeness of the wailing crow.

11. The tearing wing misled by the winds,
Playing with it and the sides.

12. It dives with disheveled feathers torn by
The hands of resolute souls and nudging consciences.

13. In the deep darkness of turbid waves we wore
Broccade, leaving life behind like the fleeting past.

14. I endured them like the darkest nights,
And passed them like the blackest nights.

15. We dispel the dark of night before the morn
With a roar or a graying head.

16. O these gardens are for God,
Their blooms parted me from my friends and loved ones.

17. Like gardens their sleeves opened,
Revealing my insights and experiences.

18. So I stored for the hearts a yielding palm,
And for the halving days two clasping palms.

19. And I tossed the Iraqi horizons with a wanderer,
Where wonders are not wonders.

20. As if each sorceress' saliva in the storytellers' tongues
Was the spittle of a jester.

21. And how often I connected east to west,
Until I connected horizons with their setting places.

22. As if I had retraced the steps of my wonders,
On earth or reconsidered my wonders.

23. Or I had cast my fortune into the sky,
With its scope running in the unknown space.

24. And if events darkened for me, I do not see
The light of certainty in a lying glance.

25. True news struck me with lasting sorrows,
That the blows of fate are not random blows.

26. So I recovered from the heat of disarray,
And attained my hopes through the beauty of solace.

27. And I guarded my honor through reliance,
From one who distanced himself, so I distanced.

28. And I have seen persistence is not effective,
Nor is frustration, for the path, bent.

29. How often I was blessed with what my envier desired
As fate, and I failed in what my companion chose.

30. And I found the taste of poison in the nectar of the vine,
And bitterness in the drink of my beverage.

31. And I was adorned in abundant blessings wearing them,
The days took them from me as one who seizes.

32. O lady of the tent, seek some consolation,
Separation was hard on the howling beasts.

33. If my travel saddened you, then receive good news
Of my beautiful anticipation of the fruits to come.

34. And if my departure troubled you,
Then I will lead the joy of one who returns.

35. Did your eyes see a rising full moon
In the horizon, except from a setting crescent?

36. By God, after me, my successor for you
Is one whom my inclinations have been guided to.

37. Between you and I, one who will answer my call,
A caller of a darling from the sheds of mounts.

38. And I will prepare him for his hospitality and gifts,
So he will prepare for my means and desires.

39. And I will inspire him with the lightning of his right hand and forehead,
And he will sense the spirit of my bonds and demands.

40. And I will motivate him through the intercessions of prosperous ones,
Who have affinity with every kinship and suitability.

41. There the tribulations will come to you submissively,
And time will walk to you with the gait of a penitent.

42. The authority of misfortunes will bend over,
And every patron will express remorse.

43. A king whom when I hurl the events with his name,
The poison of snakes is killed by my spells.

44. Raising the banners above the horizons,
And leading the lions above the caves.

45. A king who was too noble for the creatures of traitors,
So the Merciful rewarded him with the might of a conqueror.

46. Who ordains, so it is enforced, every right and duty,
Except when he gives, it is beyond duty.

47. A lock on Islam, banned from it,
Every obstinate and adversarial heart.

48. Islam does not remove its secure cover,
From it, nor does paganism, the leash of one who wavers.

49. The sanctuary of guidance, the poison of enmity, a wish
For one resigned, and a death for one who fights.

50. A barrier over the flag of the frontiers, drawing near
To the distant, and distancing the drawing near.

51. So the keeper of Islam is not a keeper,
And the victor over enemies is not a vanquisher.

52. Loyal to the loftiness of the frontiers, out of a desire
From one who aspires, or intimidation from one who cowers.

53. His gifts are a greeting of a visitor,
And his fury is salvation for a fugitive.

54. O you who meets those who descend upon his abode,
With a gifted brow and a granting comfort.

55. And when the two groups meet, the first piercing,
And when the piercing intensifies, the first striking.

56. And when the horses return, the last dismounting,
And when the caller calls, the first riding.

57. Your hands have honored those you created,
As hopes for every aspirant or desirer.

58. From every virgin in your right hand a precious pearl,
Adorned with necklaces and robes.

59. These at the first suitor their birthplaces
Proclaim in the horizons, “Is there a suitor?”

60. And your honor transcends the birth of a Yafith,
Or a Caesar, or the lineage of fossilized saints.

61. Rather, you are the brilliant ray of a cloudburst,
Inseminated by it or a lightning flash of a pouring rain.

62. Your grasp was destined for enterprise and leadership,
And you suckled the bounty of virtues and talents.

63. In the pride of a cradle whose place did not settle
Except near platforms and battlefields.

64. And you were weaned the day you were weaned amidst the fray
At the gathering of regiments with regiments.

65. Until you ascended ranks from the sky,
Leaving its planets without ranks.

66. So if you seek a rising truth there,
Then you are closer than the seeker’s vein.

67. And if you bestowed, you have bestowed strivings,
That became the adornment of my feats and merits.

68. With which I adorned my poetry’s necklaces,
And made them worthy of my stars.

69. And I stored for the days from its virtues,
Like necklaces in the necks of wild cows.

70. With it I will heal the sickness of my estrangement,
And dress the wounds of my afflictions.

71. And I will make of it the amulets of one who fears
An affliction, or the hopes of one who is disappointed.

72. And I will leave its praise and reward
As provision for one who settles tomorrow and supplies for a rider.

73. And the bliss of one downcast and company for an expat,
Jewelry for strings and a meadow for a drinker.

74. And I have scattered your form as essence, not
What I embroidered and the rope of hay entwined.