1. Though I defied separation, it refused
And the battle raged, till it prevailed

2. When absence unveiled its face to me
Our every earnest game turned to play

3. To God I complain of the bared sword,
The wounded lion, and the pouring rain,

4. Knowledge and patience, the soul that strayed
From this vile world, the heart so wide

5. He who revived my verdant life and filled
My hand, gave back the life gone from me

6. I quaffed the choicest wine in plenty
Without you now, no cup comes to me

7. Illness assails me, wasting me away
If I recover, I've not paid my debt

8. No blame to you, though I owned the wealth
Of Korah or the throne of Sheba's queen

9. You've made me a branch; else for me
No lineage except through you is seen

10. O son of one girt with kindness, graced am I
With boons so high praise falls shy of them

11. I'll fill the earth with thanks befitting all
You've granted, be you wrathful or appeased

12. Thanks to your bounty, lordship came to me
Beyond what poetry save in transport sings

13. Chosen, of noble forebears, virtuous,
True glory his, exact his pedigree

14. Two births for him from Amer decided
He should excel all kin, guide and rear them

15. Enrich them, train them, draw them gently to
His grace and teach them reason and politesse

16. Each time I'm brought before him, some new grace
Is granted me, no other left to give

17. Should the sun claim its light but for a day,
It would be dimmed; should stars seek rank, they'd fall

18. Tokens of every excellence speak of him,
A purpose lofty as the shooting stars

19. The exalted comes to him, though remote
From others; strangers, when familiar grown

20. In affairs, a cloud that knows no peer;
In fray, a blade no equal has e'er struck

21. His holdfast, while unbreached, rained down no gold
That we have seen-else every rain were gold!

22. Each threatening sky in Egypt once gave me
Rainwater at Aleppo-ah, sweet the change!

23. My hopes went astray, though my guides;
My feet were led right to the clouds' domain

24. Recalling you gives me a message from
A heart afire, parted erstwhile from you

25. It listens as some talk relates, and longs
For more, unless the talk itself prohibits

26. I praise you; it delights him; greetings flow
Now we are parted-ah, how strange it is!

27. O you who harbour glory, inherited
And self-acquired; merit inborn, and earned;

28. By your kind acts what rank I have attained
And wealth and honour all to you revert

29. None facing hardship finds Syrian succour swift;
Its paths are blocked;-not all who wield the sword can strike!

30. He brandished his sword-like an arrow he flew,
Undistracted by obstacles dense as crowds

31. With zeal and resolve that is unequalled,
Through plain and mountain undelayed he rode

32. Those who encountered him met only woe,
Success and repute his companions were

33. In valour like the Turks; should a call come
Of loyalty, to Arabs he returns

34. I met his uprighteous son who seizes
Spoils as a father greedy for sweet fruit

35. Favour our friendship; drive away all care;
Bring joy; remove exhaustion and distress

36. O scion of warriors who, when the frays
Lit up, filled their armour and spent the pure silver coins

37. So kings shuddered like bird flocks
When the stealthy creature passes by

38. If he hears your voice, he loses his wits;
Trembling, watching, all thoughts discarded, he comes

39. You forced through a mouth no easier than
The Well-Guarded; with your gifts all doubts dispelled

40. Your friend: may his bliss last! No qualm
Or lurking doubt-but love and purity alone

41. You two, his hold secure; for him, sheltering spears
And a buttress firmer than high-reaching branches

42. If either should rise or excel, make war or court, address affairs
I say - no coward am I - that I am party to it, stakeholder too

43. When I had dire word of my guide, cares stirred,
Grief was provoked, to the full consumed me

44. But then the tidings of his health gave rest
To a heart that so long had been bereaved

45. You never shrank, though the foe raged on,
But met disasters with resolve to break them