1. They recalled the covenants so longing stirred in me,
A yearning that whispers to me when dusk falls.

2. It seems my inner depths are an ocean
Casting pearls and coral from within me.

3. Had I but kept my eyelids closed when they
Recalled the covenants, I’d have said: “Not mine, my eyelids!”

4. I complain to God of parting - for surely
I've no control o’er what parting has done.

5. O He who tended neither the sands nor watered
The shifting dunes - evil the place and the time!

6. Since Tariq moored his ships, not one high wave
Has failed to crash upon those very shores.

7. O meeting place of two seas! How many a host
You divided after their coming together!

8. Were it not for “perhaps” and “maybe,” my patience
Would fail, my composure lost, discretion gone.

9. From Al-Ta'if come fine soft wisps of cloud
By God’s secret decrees and clear portents.

10. A beauty came to me, banished my loneliness,
Showed me hopes clearly, realities manifest.

11. I was tortured in the fires of absence
And entered thereby the gardens of joy.

12. Before her I dragged my train in pride
And rode the steed of conceit at full gallop.

13. I was like one made tipsy by a draught
Of sparkling wine ‘twixt the third cup and the eighth.

14. Grief’s hand afflicted me, illness bowed
My body down, when she came to visit.

15. With wellness she met each pain,
Regained what failing health had diminished.

16. Good tidings, O son of the Chaste! For in secret
You work wonders beyond all minds and hearts.

17. Their marvels which you imbued the present time
You made subservient to it and all eras.

18. O Judge in whom none find fault
In fairness, and none disagree on perfection!

19. I gained a boon and treasure
Of your lasting affection through the ages.

20. And I planted your love in my heart until
Its horizons turned lush and verdant.

21. How many wise sayings have I prepared
For the sermon, and all I reaped were words!

22. How many a coarse fool I wished to refine,
Only to brim forth in the end with warmth.

23. By your thoughts you stirred in me a perception
Halting deep in memories and passions.

24. Or after half a year away, driven from
My home by the judges of nights and days.

25. For me, your eloquence kindles a spark,
And your wisdom flashes like lightning.

26. You show the face of each new topic, dictating
In your elegant style meanings refulgent.

27. On rhetoric’s day you race its steeds,
Hailed as the knight of that arena.

28. As if the doves in dawn sang a melody
To which the branches danced enraptured.