1. It is incumbent upon me to keep the promise and affection,
Even if it yields nothing but estrangement and distance.

2. How many reproachers have hinted at their estrangement,
Bringing news to my ears insistently.

3. When blame is prolonged, I say to him: be composed,
For no lover sees his madness as sensible.

4. The mark of love is to count its displeasure as pleasure,
And its bitterness as sweetness and its sore as honey.

5. Had separation and estrangement not pleased me for a while,
I would not have been content with promises and hopes.

6. She was obstinate until I said estrangement is not her religion,
And she was unyielding until I ceased to deny affection.

7. It became clear, so the phantom began to disobey her rule,
Continuing to forget me, and estranging me deliberately.

8. One evening she said: he who insists on his claim without dying, does not truly die.
We stood together, while I sought the aid of tears and grief,

9. When her glances began to seek the aid of coquetry and grace.
The glance of an eye wounds the heart, while its injury

10. Degrades wounds that hurt bone and skin.
Apple cheeks are ashamed of my darkness, so whenever

11. The rose narrated, her cheek narrated my rose-tinted tear.
I have continued since the beginning of my life, wishing

12. That my soul would seek its whims intensely.
I will not ignite the fire that illuminates the path

13. To fortune, if submission to it was feeble.
So my desire for love, return to asceticism,

14. For you are not the first desire to return to asceticism.
Leave futile hope to meet its remedy

15. In the presence of a king whose deeds create glory.
When he is generous, he does not fail to grant his gifts,

16. And when he speaks, he fails neither his threats nor promises.
Even if the clouds are stingy with rain in the land, they miss it,

17. And if they are miserly in the place, it has its compensation.
If he punishes the guilty, he is just and did not transgress,

18. And if asked for grace, he enriches and does not exceed.
He is wise when speech avoids confusion,

19. And firm against the doubts of time when it is intense.
The horses of kings were sacrificed for him, for he deserves

20. To be praised and ransomed.
Their glory in honor makes the furthest of them in extent

21. Closest in lineage.
The purest in thought, most munificent in hand,

22. Most affluent in shade, and most abundant in aid.
He points without being pointed to, on the path of highborn persons,

23. Thus are the stars: floral, guiding without being guided.
The progeny of the exalted dissolved the knots of glory with spears,

24. And left the path open for whoever hopes to join them.
How many envious enemies have laid traps for them,

25. But those enemies failed and did not attain what they wanted!
The virtues of this lineage are too numerous for nights

26. That wrap themselves in trains to darken what was illuminated.
A king inherited the rule after Salih;

27. You were given succession after him as young men.
So you unfurled before him and behind him

28. Swords that vanquish enemies and straight undeviating spears.
Horses that when the battle cry is raised

29. Hasten to it, carrying heavy loads and lions.
Bedouins whom the wool they wear adorns

30. With majesty, although they were naked without garments before.
And two fires for kindness and might were ignited

31. For the needy they protect and the transgressor they shun.
So a fire of villages that guide to it - how often

32. It has led a lost family and ransomed a delegation.
And a fire of battle in which every traitor is burned

33. When he desires to extinguish it, it blazes more.
And beneath this honor is the sword of caliphate

34. That surpasses confusion in extent and exceeds it in sharpness.
It distinguishes between intimate and distant

35. When matters get serious and leave their sheaths.
O you who protected my gratitude with abundant reward,

36. When I attempt to enumerate it, it is like counting stars.
You were good to me, succeeding your father without transgressing,

37. And you were excessive in doing good without exceeding.
Are you not the son of those whose gifts made all forget -

38. Whether their hands stretched voluntarily or reluctantly?
The reward of praise to them was a delay

39. Postponed for a time - so you made it immediate cash.
They gave little, then confirmed, so

40. My feet were set by those who gave much, not those who confirmed.
I was compensated by their uncertain hopes with honor,

41. Safety for fear, and gain for lack.
In the shade of the generous, noble in aid, whose equal

42. No ostrich begot, nor good fortune brought into being.
Among those acts of kindness is an honor

43. I attained freely, so I became its slave.
So here I am, beside you, without hoping

44. For any hope to be fulfilled or any favor to be renewed.
He shuns the thorns of roads who found life,

45. And refuses to be content with gifts, he who dwelt with enemies.
Congratulations on a second and a first feast day,

46. Upon which monarchs wish to be its cradle!
And its Giver, the Asked, to show it to you

47. As an auspicious, most fortunate son of his son's son.
He remains attributed with the name of his ancestor

48. While his news is narrated and his well-being echoed.
Why do I not gift you strange things

49. That the highborn preserved from being sold or gifted?
Implicitly containing praise which, if published, would be lost,

50. For printing is not suitable to have a counterpart.
The rhymed prose of al-Tibr did not survive eras,

51. And the poem of Najd - its composer did not come from Najd.
How much poetry has flowed that no lover authored,

52. And how many swords were forged that knew no warfare!
Speech cannot reach what you actually do,

53. Even if it reached the utmost in describing your feats.
The least you grant fulfills wishes,

54. And the easiest role you assume encompasses praise.