1. Patience deserted the one who abandoned it
And the heart promised solace, but broke its promise

2. Sorrow obediently marched to separation, without healing
The restlessness of a soul seeking its cure

3. When we stopped, tears forbidden by passion to halt
The night we recalled at Al-Aqeeq and its shadow

4. So elegant it tore at our hearts in regret
Sorrow disobeyed one who roused his feet to sorrow

5. And the tears of the eyes scolded one who scolded them
At the time of bidding farewell, forbidden kisses

6. Show you next dawn, the gatherer of night, hastening
If your gaze fell, you’d not miss a gazelle with a fawn

7. And if your thoughts wandered, you’d not lose a tender branch
My eyes never saw a cheek like hers

8. Where the hand of tears wrote letters
One evening we met unexpectedly

9. I had always feared its nearness
I hid my love, though patience was my ally

10. It revealed what I attempted, so attempts are futile
I have a year whose measure I know not

11. For a care that came as a guest and made itself at home
It acts out a phantom that avoided my path

12. So when slumber seals my eyes, it satisfies and pardons
So leave off troubling my sleep, o care

13. Now you are kinder and more compassionate
Why do I follow my heart when it leads me astray

14. Obedient to a desire that strengthened only the weak?
How I busy imminent days with thoughts

15. Of a departed beloved or abandoned campsite
Seeking justice from its consequences, though justice

16. Turned from fairness towards you out of fairness
I kept company with the nights of fate until they wearied me

17. And I grew heavy until it was time for me to be relieved
The jealous never attained their purpose from me

18. My abstinence from disgrace was modesty
A man is none but one who disdains himself

19. Refusing glory except with dignity
One who does not eat carrion opportunity

20. Or, if he shares water, partakes from its surface
A seller of honour for wealth is wretched

21. Yet one who buys betrayal with loyalty is more wretched
The desired intention is not fulfilled by what I pour into it

22. If one day it violates manliness altogether
I knew men whose company I do not blame

23. Since I live luxuriously and lavishly through them
But I saw none except tyrants putting on displays

24. Or unjust rulers passing crooked judgements
Other than a king whose deeds refuse baseness

25. So he bestows favour and rules with justice
Tender yet brave, his excellence surpassed others

26. He is neither disobeyed nor does he exceed bounds
If the glorious seek elevation, they fall short

27. And if they try to hide his majesty, it appears
If he is wronged, punishment does not cross its limits

28. For he never acts except to exceed them
Inclined to reciprocate good by nature

29. When the beneficent come to him, out of obligation
From his gifts, we gained riches and security

30. And fear of loss and poverty from some he neglected
The most generous of people when the coward is stingy

31. And the most truthful when lightning raggedly flickers
You meet him in arid years with a raincloud

32. That pours down and, on a stormy day, gushes forth
I fear the dominance of time with its own opinions

33. Disposing affairs according to its own preferences
Scornful if the sword’s edge is held back

34. When the subjugated supplicant is weakened
Denying it return to its sheath

35. Until it sees the necks of enemies evenly positioned
Not pleased to excel Amer in valor

36. While excelling Amr in forbearance
Recognized by the superiority that stunned all

37. When other kings affiliate themselves to gain recognition
I visited him and gained Māmā, encountered Suhbān

38. And saw Joseph, felt orchard and meadow
When scholars are asked, he examines their limits

39. And they do not err but have been refined
Listing for us miracles he broadcasts

40. And guides with those he attained and was granted
I did not complain to him of the ongoing gifts

41. Except feeling inadequate to thank him for them
Various gifts, if enumerated, would suffice me

42. What I gained successively in installments
With blessings from him, an elevated ascent

43. And by its side, a covered Harriman coach
By your shadow, O Honor of Kings, son of its crown

44. An era before your nearness fulfilled me
You remained in this glorious land, ever

45. Gracious and kind to its inhabitants
You transformed the turns of fate, peerless

46. So they passed as the night ends at dawn
No weak resolve scattered fear from them

47. And sheltered them in secure shade it spread
Nor did the Bountiful veil Himself from their pleas

48. Or disappoint their prayer when night falls
That this noble feast delight you always

49. Honoring it whenever the fires are lit
You grace it with beauty whenever it comes

50. And succeed it among the people when it departs
You blended dew and good news until they intermixed

51. Like the intermingling of sweet, pure water and meadow
Accounts of noble deeds shrivel and fold

52. While your story continuously flows and is pursued
Virtues no discerning person would overlook

53. Does the dawn’s light conceal itself from one who sees?
My poems made necklaces of scattered beads

54. Though not all who collect gems string them
With strong, elevated diction I do not fear slipping,

55. Becoming sad or solemnly proceeding
When it strikes your enemy’s hearing even if gentle

56. It seems rocks, though it is the softest water
A diver selected it from the depths of thought

57. If he seizes the finest pearls from its depths
You always obliged me with your fine favor

58. Frankly, and I clothed you in layered praise
Until we were seen by one knowledgeable of us

59. And each is content with what his hands grasped
And here I am, after nothingness, hoped for and esteemed

60. I refused to let my poetry be seen threadbare
Except by you, and my thanks seen snatched away

61. You whitened for me the face of hope and often
It appeared to me, though I knew you not, despondent and pretentious

62. You revealed my merits, though they were hidden from all
With a merit that sufficed the eulogist to pretend to it

63. I was merely a blade whose essence the sparks concealed
The clash of lightning exposed its expanse